


If Time Would Slow Down

by hr34



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cannon Divergence, Clexa, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Lands in different territory, M/M, Pod is realeased to earth, Slow Burn, badass female leaders, tags added as story progresses, the 100 will land later, tricky commander
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 14:58:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hr34/pseuds/hr34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke is turning 18 in two days, leaving her not much time before she is floated. The 100 is not being sent down until later so Abby has to make a choice. With Raven's help she gets to give Clarke a chance. What will Clarke find on the ground? Who will find Clarke? And who will they be hiding?...hope you enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, I have truly enjoyed the show The 100 and the different character dynamics on that show specifically the display of powerful woman leading for a change and a certain couple. I have read several of the fanfics on here already and as much as I have my own ideas to make this story my own and try to keep it as original as I can, it can be difficult if you catch a minor similarity but I promise to try and bring something new throughout the story. You will see certain plot similarities from the show from the seasons but I will be changing it up quite a bit. The biggest changes I would say are with what happens after the mountain. I cannot say I will not be killing off a major character or who that is, but you just have to trust me and the work. I will adding more tags and more character tags as the story progresses to not give anything away. As much as I am invested in the characters and couples we have seen I will be switching it up a bit regarding who is with who and how they meet. However I am also invested in the story of the other clans and the politics and structure of the coalition and plot so if you are looking for a sole fluff and love story then this may not be for you. There will be love, loss, and much more that I intend to build but it will done at a pace that goes with the plot much like in real life things do not happen over night. I hope you enjoy, feel free to leave a comment with a suggestion of what you would like to see that you have not seen yet or even some new character names because I am adding new people throughout the story who play important roles. Regarding updates I will try for a weekly update. I do not think I am a great writer so bear with me I feel like the more i write the better it will flow and the more in detail I will get and the longer they will be. If you are anything like me when i get an update from my favorite fanfic I like the long ones that you settle in for the read, makes it worth the wait. This might become part of a series but we shall see as the story progresses. Hope you enjoy.

The Ark  
It early in the morning just before dawn when Abby awakes form the sound of two knocks on her door. She slips out of her bed and heads to the door, hesitating before opening. “Who is it?” she whispers hoping it will be her. 

“Abby it’s me open up, the guard is about to make his way over,” says the girl outside the door. 

Abby lets go of the breath she has been holding and opens the door in relief to see “Raven, thank god come in...hurry.” 

As Raven makes her way into her room Raven wastes no time “I managed to get the thrusters pressurized and it’s ready to launch. I also finished packing some supplies for her, did you get the rest of the stuff?” 

Abby walks over to her bed and pulls out a small medical kit and some folded clothes. “I thought it would be good for Clarke to have some of her old clothes…I…I wanted to put her drawing notebook…but I…I don’t think I can” Abby drops on the bed with her hands crashing to her face sobbing while trying to get her words out. “I don’t…think I can because…because if she…if she doesn’t make it, I need to still have... a…piece of her…with me.” She sighs letting the remaining tears fall before saying “Maybe this is a mistake…maybe I can get Thelonius to let her join the other 100 kids that will be sent down next month…He may be chancellor but he was our friend…maybe he will let this one slide…maybe he wi-“ 

Raven doesn’t let her finish that thought “He can’t, with Kane on his neck about wanting to downsize already there is no way Abby.” Raven moves to Abby’s side trying to comfort the woman, waiting before she speaks to say “This is Clarke’s best chance…It’s her only chance at surviving. She turn 18 in two days, you know they will float her. At least this way you give her a chance of surviving. Maybe the ground is safe, and if it is when we all land down there you will be reunited and will no longer be torn apart…you just have to hope Abby.” 

Abby takes Raven’s hand in hers and looks at her when saying, “We give her a chance.” Her voice cracks as she tries to continue with tears threatening to escape once again “I caa-..I Can’t thank you enough Raven…I would not be able to do this without you. Thank y-“ She barely gets her last word out as she grabs Raven in a tight embrace compromising Raven’s oxygen. “Ab-..Abby I..I ca..nt breathe wom..an” 

Abby freezes before letting go quickly grabbing Raven’s face with a small chuckle “Thank you Raven, I am forever in your debt” while placing a quick kiss to her forehead as Raven starts to turn to a normal color again. 

Raven gives her a small smile with a nod before slapping her hands on her knees and standing up. “Alright well as much as I love turning purple and seeing spots from lethal hugs we better get going, we don’t have that much time to launch her. Let’s go, you ready?” 

Abby nods and wipes her face “I’m ready, let’s go save my daughter.”

As they sneak out of Abby’s room into the corridor they are trying to be as soft as they can with the metal floor beneath their shoes. “Couldn’t they have put carpet or something to line these hallways I mean seriously…” Raven spits out in an angered whisper not liking their pace due to avoiding the clunking sound of the boots and sheet metal floors. 

They are almost to the cells, just as they turn a corner a guard comes and stops them in their tracks. But not just any guard…Fuck is all Raven thinks…there is a reason they have this guard at night, because even though he has the IQ level of a blade of grass he is a huge muscle built guy whose looks intimidate easily from a glance. Anyone who faces him just feels like they shrink a foot in height and have lost the function of their knee’s locking. 

As he stares down at the two women scanning them with his eyes trying to find some clue as to what they are up to at this hour. He doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary besides a medical kit and some folded clothes…his suspicions start to rise. “Dr. Griffin…Dr. Griffin’s friend…what are you doing out of your rooms at this hour?”

Abby is the first to speak “Bruce, we were just coming back from the infirmary. Raven here woke up with a persistent nosebleed and needed to see me. I am just making sure she is getting back to her room in one piece.” Hoping he will take the story and let go he doesn’t seem to make any movement showing he is buying it. 

He raises a brow glaring down from Abby to the kit and clothes in her hand back at her.

Abby catches onto the question already forming in his mind and is quick to come up with something “Oh these? These are just her clothes she got blood on. Luckily we had some left over clothes at the infirmary for her to change into. Finally found someone to get rid of those clothes collecting dust in my office… Is that all Bruce?” Abby finishes biting her lip trying to make sure she didn’t anger the guard or give way that she is in a rush with her last statement.

He waits a few seconds, staring at the two of them before huffing out a breath and taking a small step to the side allowing them to continue on their way while he goes back to wandering the halls. Both of them take a deep breath making quick glances at the other and rush to the end of the corridor. 

As they reach the right cell floor, Raven starts to run down examining the number on the cells looking for Clarke’s. 

Abby is more reserved than Raven, slowing down as she realizes this is where her daughter has been the past seven months. She has not been allowed to see her daughter since she was sent down here. Even when she comes down to answer medical calls she gets from the guards about someone in their cell, she is never allowed to go by Clarke’s. They know her daughter was being held in one of the cells and Kane was always the one who stood before Clarke’s door, giving her no chance of even going by it. Kane…what an ass, she thought. She wonders what happened to him to be the way he is. Such hatred that man seems to have for people. As she gets lost in her thoughts she focuses back on Raven’s fading voice calling out the cell numbers. 

“323…317…312…309, here we go!” Raven tries to shout grabbing Abby’s attention snapping her out of any thought and hurrying to Raven’s side. They look at the steal door with no windows or access to see inside and then back at each other. Raven them pulls out her small tools and starts to take apart the doorknob screw by screw. Trying to lighten the mood Raven spits out “For all the tech the Ark has to lock away medical supplies and heck even the food rations, I see they didn’t spend much for keeping dangerous prisoners safely locked away. This isn’t even hard to access, you could have done this.” As Raven sports a small smirk she glances up at Abby to only see the woman glaring back at her with anger. 

“She is not dangerous…She is not even a prisoner.” She sighs before admitting, “She is just a girl who knew something she wasn’t suppose to. She is just a girl…my daughter.” 

Raven stopped what she was doing as soon as Abby spoke and looked back at Abby with regret of her comments. “I didn’t mean it like that Abby, I am sorry.”

Abby places a hand on Raven’s shoulder reassuring her “I know…it’s just this is hard. We have been planning this for a long time but now that it is here…It’s just hard. But we have a girl to save, so get to it Reyes” she says as she wipes her face. 

As Raven looks away from Abby she takes a breath and gets to work with only two screws left to take out. As she gets the last two screws undone and pulls off the knob all that is left is to disconnect the wire. Once she unplugs the wire it takes off the electricity for the lock. As she unplugs it you hear the click of the lock coming undone allowing them to open the door. As they enter the cell Raven stops taking in all of the artwork covering the walls of Clarke’s cell as Abby rushes in to find Clarke. “Whoa…I didn’t know they locked away Michael Angelo…Wow you weren’t kidding about her drawings” Raven whispers. Abby throws Raven a look “Right sorry…here for Clarke, here is the injection” Raven hands Abby the syringe filled with a sleep serum for Clarke. 

As Abby holds it in her hands she starts to question her decision about the serum. Even though Raven got the pod back to functioning they do not know if it will be able to withstand the landing completely. What if she doesn’t land on flat ground but lands on a mountain toppling all the way down. The pod was not made to withstand all that kind of impending damage. If Clarke…she pauses her thought not wanting to think about it but she has to…if Clarke was to land but took on too much damage on the way down she could die. What if she gets a knick on the glass letting the space air vacuum her pod out of her air supply…Abby sighs again leaning her head to stare up at the ceiling trying to hold back her tears. She will give Clarke her chance of being free to live on the ground. But she will not let her be awake to suffer through maybe not making it down alive. At least this way sleep will not hurt her and she will not feel anything. At least that way she can protect her. Clarke could die, but at least if she did, she would die in her sleep. Peaceful sleep. Abby sits down by her sleeping daughter and gently strokes her back and hair trying to wake her daughter but not alarm her. 

As she see’s it is not working to wake her up Abby starts to shake Clarke awake gently whispering “Clarke…honey…Clarke wake up, it’s mom…” Clarke starts to stir to only pull away from Abby until her eyes adjust to the dark and take in her mother’s familiar features.

“Mom! What are you doing here?” Says Clarke as she grabs her mom into a tight embrace. Abby separates them putting Clarke’s face in her hands gently cupping her face moving away strands of her hair from her daughters face before saying probably her last words to her daughter. She has thought about what to say for days before she goes to sleep and when days went by while waiting for word back from Raven on the pod’s progress and now is that moment. She gives her daughter a small smile before speaking again to calm down the worry in Clarke’s face. 

“Clarke honey…me and Raven are here to sneak you out” Clarke’s face turns into a confused look as she looks from her mom to Raven and back. “Um hi Clarke, it’s nice to finally meet you…you are really talented at drawing…looks great…love what you’ve done with the place…” says Raven awkwardly from the corner. 

Clarke looks at Raven and the section of the wall she was pointing at to only look back at the unfamiliar face in the corner. “Hi…um thanks, but mom wh-“ and as she tries to start her line of questions but Abby is quicker. 

“I know you must be confused but I’m sorry we don’t have much time. Raven here managed to take an old pod functional so we can send you down to Earth. You know they will float you tomorrow Clarke. And I can’t… I won’t let that happen. This is your only chance...” as she pauses to gather herself, “and our only chance of getting to see each other once again. They will send 100 others like you down to Earth in a month to see if it is survivable. If it is, the ark will come down after. And I-…I will get to see you again.” Clarke’s face is now streaming with tears taking in every word her mother says refusing to break eye contact even as her tears start to blur her vision she doesn’t care. “There will be some supplies for you in the pod but you will need to stay safe and figure out how to survive. Your dad…I know your dad taught you some basic survival and old world techniques. You have to use them and everything else he taught you. We do not know what is down there but whatever it has to offer you is better than here. I love you so much Clarke, remember I will always be with you.” With that Abby give her daughter a kiss on the forehead and smile as she injects her with the serum. 

Clarke shocked, looks at her arm and back to her mother with questioning eyes while Abby assures her “You’re okay…This is going to let you sleep on the way down to Earth…just incase…” Clarke gives her mom a nod understanding while her eyelids start to feel as if they have a new weight added to them.  
“I love…you mom…may we meet…again” she lets out slowly succumbing to the serum. 

Abby gently sets her daughter back on the bed taking advantage of the few seconds she has left of Clarke still being awake and conscious, she starts to tell her “In peace may you leave the shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again.”

Raven takes in the sight before her…seeing a bond between a mother and daughter as raw as in this moment makes her eyes water. Having to see what she never got the chance to have. She turns around to try and pull herself together. When she gets a hold of herself she coughs and startles Abby saying, “Don’t worry Abby you will see her again. I’m sure of it. But we have to get moving.” 

Abby gives Clarke on last kiss on her forehead before she moves her daughter towards the edge of the bed. Grabbing under Clarke’s arms she start to pick up the top half of her body in front of her with Raven coming rushing around to the lower half grabbing Clarke’s legs helping to full lift her off the bed. As they struggle out of the cell and down the corridor they hurry along luckily having the door leading into the room hiding the now functional pod being close by not having to worry about running into Bruce again. 

Once they enter they settle Clarke on the ground and grab her a padded vest on to strap on her, some gloves, and lastly a helmet. As soon as she is done being fitted they pick her up again and put her in the pod buckling her in. 

Then Raven runs out giving Abby a worry as she looks back at Raven to see her cutting off a string and running back to grab the small pack holding Clarke’s supplies and clothes. “I just had a thought to tie this to her so she knows where it is once she lands.” As raven starts the first knot onto the supply pack Abby start to tie the other end into a buckle on the vest securing it tightly several times remembering the time Jake spent Clarke the different knots sailors use to use on boats back on earth while Abby would sneak in lesson on the different knot used in suturing. Shaking her head clearing her thoughts on her memories she refocuses on Clarke finishing her last knot. 

When she finishes she looks up at Raven who is already walking up to the control room to get started on preparing for launch. This is it. Abby gets one last look at her daughter taking in how peaceful she looks when she sleeps and hoping she really will get to meet her again. She gives her one last kiss on her forehead and hurriedly shuts the door making her way to Raven to get ready for launch. 

Raven is typing away for what seems to be the longest minute of her life before silence occupies the control room. Abby shoots a look at Raven with Raven pointing to a big red button with a glass cover over it. “It’s ready Abby. All that is left is pressing the launch button. I..I think you should do it. She is your daughter.” 

Abby walks over slowly, legs feeling as if her pants pockets hid heavy rocks in them. As her hand pushes the red button cover off she looks at Raven and then looks through the glass to Clarke asleep in the pod secured and ready for take off. She takes one deep breath and pushes down on the red button whispering “Jake… protect her…” And when she looks back at the glass the pod is gone and so is Clarke. She presses her hands on the glass windowpane trying to grasp that now her and her daughter are living in two different worlds. Space and soon… the ground.


	2. The Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke lands on the ground. What will she wake up to? And who?...enjoy!

The Ground

In flattened grassland area lays the pod holding an unconscious Clarke unaware of her new surroundings. The pod is unscathed minus some scratches around the pod but the windows remain secure unaffecting the internal oxygen supply. She made it, now only for the serum to wear off. The girl locked alone in a cell in the sky, makes it to the ground yet to be alone again.

Or is she?

Maia POV

As dawn approaches, slowly starting to fill the light in her room, Maia starts to wake. As much as she wants to hide under the covers until the maiden pours water on her, she gets up begrudgingly setting right into changing and getting ready for the day. As if her routine had ever changed since the age of seven, her routine in the morning always ran the same; wake up at dawn, have a light breakfast, head to a training session with Keon, eat and cleanup, meetings with her father and socializing with the Lake people.

Chewing on an apple she found on her way out the door, she heads out to see Keon waiting with two horses and weapons attached ready to head off. 

“You do realize I can pack and ready my own horse, yes?” she says annoyed.

He just looks at her before giving a slight bow while saying “My apologies, I am only here to serve you Princess Maia. It is an honor readying your horse and weapons.”

Well that just makes it worse she thinks. She grips a hand on Keon’s shoulder with a gentle squeeze before walking over to mount her horse. “We have trained together for almost five years, yet you still can’t just call me Maia…” she says with a smirk. Keon is not as light and open for discussion when it comes to her. He is a fierce warrior, dedicated to his craft. However when it comes to the Royal family, he is as serious as one can be. 

While thinking about it, he is just doing what he was sought out to do. Once they are both on their horses they start to make their journey into the woods. On the way in she passes several of her guards including the ones at her gate. The guards seeing the Princess approaching, start to push the gates open to allow them to pass through and out of the boundaries of her home. “Good morning Princess Maia, seems this morning will be clear and cool. Perfect for an early morning training session I presume?” says one of the guards.

“Morning Gunter, and yes looks as if the rain has finally let up. Can you tell how pleased Keon here is?” she says with a smirk to look at Keon who does not look amused whatsoever. This only causes Keon to ride ahead leaving the princess and Gunter to enjoy a laugh at his expense. 

“I better hurry before he decides to make today’s training unbearable, see you later Gunter. Send your young ones my hello and that I shall see them at the festival” she calls out over her shoulder as she rides to catch up with Keon. Before looking ahead she catches the wave of her favorite guard as he is closing the gates.

After a fast paced gallop to the forest, the princess is finally able to catch up with Keon. As they trot down the familiar path away from the city, the guards, the people, and lastly the noise the peace of the wild finally sets in. The guards may seem to have stayed behind however they always hid in the surroundings, never far away incase they are needed. This was her favorite part of the day, not because of the training, but because it is the only time of the day where she gets that amount of space to breathe. Being the Princess of the Lake people comes with a major sacrifice from the day of birth. Not the typical sacrifice, but the sacrifice of a life of freedom, a life of carelessness, mistakes, and of lastly being wild. Princesses do not get to be wild, or make mistakes, they have expectations. Good thing she is a wild one regardless when she gets a chance.

However that is not the case this morning, this morning she has a training session with Keon like usual. They continue on as the path opens up more past the brush of the woods onto open flat grassland. The grassland, naturally with the trees surrounding it, forms this circle of flat space like an arena or ring. The people of the Lake deemed this place the area where to train their warriors to become great warriors, because the land is deemed sacred for the natural phenomena. And this morning they get it to themselves.

As they tread in they go to the posts to tie and secure the horses. As they slide down their horses, immediately Keon starts to swing his arms and jog around lightly to warm up for their session. Maia watches on from the corner of her eye with a smirk on her face, Keon never wastes a second with her. He is constantly occupied with his task at hand, prepare the Princess for the dangers of the world, other clans, battle, and lastly prepare her for the dangers of being Queen one day. Maia takes a moment to pet her horse and look out to the sky as the sun keeps rising higher to brighten up their day. Hearing the shuffling of what appears to be an impatient Keon in the background, she takes the unspoken hint grabbing her weapons and staff heading towards Keon to start their training. 

After their warm up they went into hand-to-hand combat followed by working on defense with a staff. This segment of training is Keon’s favorite, she can easily tell by the grin he gets as he sets up for it. He grabs all of the different assortments of weapons he has and even some objects that can be found in the forest and used as weapons. He throws them all out displaying them all around him and some at a distance. He will pick up a weapon at a time and start attacking the princess to his best abilities. Leaving her to parry his attacks with her staff while maintaining a safe distance from him and trying to block his access to his unused weapons. This part used to be her hardest section because of the patience she needed for it, the struggle for her being that she was not to attack but hold her ground blocking, as he is constantly moving around her. As he spends a good amount of time on a weapon before it is knocked out by one of the princess’s blows disarming him. As soon as his weapon drops from his grasp, without missing a beat, he swiftly manages to change his maneuver to pick up the new weapon and heads toward the princess to continue his attack.

Keon is in his element when it comes to fighting and battle, he makes it not only look easy but natural as if that is what he was always meant to do. The princess is able to find her patience by truly watching his attacks at the way his body moves as if it is a dance that he has danced a thousand times before. However she has to be careful, a few times at the beginning of the exercise she would get lost in her thoughts watching his movements trying to engrain them in her memory to practice later. But before she knows it, she feels a blow and is flat on her back with a disgruntled Keon staring down at her. However she has gotten better at keeping his attacks in view as well as his movements.

As he is on his 5th or 6th weapon of choice, his usual grin and focus of his face suddenly stops as well as his movements. Next he drops his weapons like if he lost feeling in his arms, as he stares off in the distance past her. Maia questioning if this is a trick or exercise of some sort backs up and looks over her shoulder. What she saw next answered her previous inquiry, it was not a trick. Blinking several times in disbelief, there is still is getting bigger and bigger as it starts to come better into view.

She doesn’t know what it is, but she knows why it caught Keon’s attention. There is what seems to be a rock of fire falling from the sky and heading towards the field. Slowly as she starts to realize the situation she feels Keon grab her and pull her towards the security of the forest as this rock of fire is making its way down. Both of them not uttering a word get into the forest to look as the rock lands on the ground never removing their eyes form the sight before them. Both of them feeling a soft rumble of the ground beneath them, has them retreating further as they both take another step back glancing at Keon as he eyes are glue to the sight.

The princess’s curiosity peaks and she starts to slowly exit the forest and head for the rock with her staff in hand. As she takes a step or two Keon grabs her arm yet again but she shrugs him off and heads toward it. On second thought, as she gets closer it is not a rock at all, but this sort of metal box. As she turns to walk around it she is able to see an opening of this box but it is still sealed off. What she see’s inside is what seems to be some sort of person or creature. Although an unusual creature as she does not see that it even has eyes. As much as the fear in her is starting to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, her legs are not being affected and keep walking around and closer to get a better view.

“What is it?” Keon seemed to be following her and is the first to speak. As she thinks of a response she doesn’t break eye contact with the box and creature incase it is still alive, “I do not know…I am not even sure it is-“

Just as she was finishing her thought, the creature moved and made a groan of sorts.  
Immediately Keon and her jump back in position at the ready with their weapons in hand. However as she is observing this creature start to stir she see’s a pale hand come up. A hand she thinks, a hand that looks like hers but nothing else. How could that be possib-… her thought ends as the creature starts to reach around and the next thing she knows, a hissing sound followed by smoke comes from the box as it opens up. They jump back further once again. Instantly her fighting stance makes an appearance getting ready to face it, or rather what.

Seeing the princess getting ready to fight, Keon steps in front of her “Get your horse and ride back to call the guards, I will hold it off as long as I can.” She looks at him as he gives her a look she has never seen before in their years of training together. Fear. Fear of the unknown of whatever this creature could possibly be.

As the smoke clears up she again she sees the pale hand except there are two of them now in better view reaching toward the top of it and pulling. “Maia you have to leave…GO NOW!”

Hearing him use her name causes her to start to turn around to head back. She does not know if her legs stopped working or if her curiosity never stopped, but she watches the creature pull off the top of it revealing bright blonde hair and a face of a girl. Maia freezes in place and grabs Keon’s arm blocking her path and goes forward approaching the girl. As she gets closer she see’s the girl look towards them confused and start to open her mouth. As she tries to speak, the words sound unfamiliar to the princess as she tries to understand what she is saying. Assuming the girl is speaking her native tongue, the princess tries to figure out a way to communicate her unable to understand her, the girl goes unconscious.

Clarke POV

Slowly the darkness turns into small slivers of light, bright light. Clarke starts to wake up but it is not the act that is having her be alert but what was waking her up. She can hear sounds, almost like someone having a conversation outside of the pod. Blinking away the bright light she starts to stretch and move her body slightly but starts to immediately feel the state of her injuries making her groan in her bodies protect of moving. 

All of a sudden it is quiet. Clarke starts to think she was imaging the sound. Realizing she is in the pod, Clarke’s head floods with the memory of her last moments before falling asleep last. 

Her mother, and where she sent her. Looking around she cannot see much because of her helmet and the scratched windows. Wanting to get out Clarke starts to look for the button to open the hatch. She has never been in a pod before but when she see’s a big red button with a small plastic covering, there is only one way to find out.

What feels like with the last bit of energy she had, Clarke flips up the plastic covering and slams in the red button. Immediately a hissing sound and smoke comes from around the pod’s hatch and more light fills the pod.

Becoming more alert as the seconds pass, Clarke hears the voices again except this time she is able to catch a few words. Trying to focus she hears a man say “Ride-…guards-…can.” 

It can’t be. Wanting to make sure her ears weren’t fooling her, Clarke immediately tries to pull off her helmet. While doing so she can hear the voice louder now and closer saying “Go now!” Grabbing the rest of the helmet till it comes off she is now able to see what is in front of her and hear. Suddenly she see’s two people, a man and girl staring at her. 

The man looking as if he is ready to attack, but the girl looks at her removing the guarding arm in front of her to come closer. Clarke does not know why, but she feels safe with the girl. Clarke also starts to see her form blur as her head starts to feel heavy and fuzzy as she tries to find her voice to speak. Her last thought she tries to vocalize but does not come out the same. I think I am going to pass out…and then it is the familiar blackness in her head and the world quiets once again.

Maia POV

Hesitating, Maia approaches the girl closer seeing her injuries more clearly on her head and hands, only imagining that is just the beginning of them. As she looks over the girl, she also looks to see what is around her. No weapons, that surprises her. If the girl has no weapons either she does not need one to accomplish her goals or she does not want one. Her curiosity being fed further, she glances over the girl to notice how she does not have the body and muscles that recognizable of a warrior. The more she looks over her, the more she feels less threatened and worried for the girl. Ignoring her immediate help response, she looks around and finds a bag of some sort. Acquiring it meant leaning over the girls body exposing the Princess to be an easy open target and defenseless. 

She takes the end of her staff and pushes it into the side of the girl’s body to see if she will react. Nothing. She does it one more time but again no response. Holding her breath she goes and reaches for the bag quickly and stepping back making sure an attack was not coming.  
Seeing the girl still looking lifeless, she starts to look at the bag to examine it. She cuts it open leaving objects falling out onto the ground. She see’s clothes similar to the ones the girls is already in, small bottles with sharp points, and lastly a folded paper stack.

She opens the paper stack to find what appears to be a map with markings on it. The mark that catches her attention is not like the marks of the areas but a deliberate one. It is a circle with numbers written by it. She is not sure what the markings mean or what they are for but she starts to worry. Unfamiliar with the ways of this type of map she folds it again putting all the objects back into the remainder of the bag.

Looking back at the unconscious girl again she tried to use her intuition when it comes to reading people on her. She feels she has nothing to fear and nothing to worry about, besides possibly the markings on the map. However at the end of the day this girl is a stranger to her in more ways than one. Her lack of defenses and threat will not stop her from questioning the girl later on when she is awake, among other things.

She puts the bag on the ground and heads toward the girl, “Keon grab the bag and go untie my horse to bring to me…Now.” Keon looks at her questioning her demand as he see’s her reach down and pull the girl out of the box and up into her arms.

“Princess what are you doing? We do not know who this is or the threat they can impose. She could be here to kill you!” Keon continues to stare at her in shock bewildered at the site and past few minutes that have occurred recently before him.

Looking at the limp, non-alarming, defenseless body in her arms, Maia shoots him a glare, “Does it look like I am in any danger? She is injured and not even able to open her eyes. I am more than capable of handling this. Now go!”

Keon gives her once last look and one to the unconscious girl in her arms before darting off to the horses post. She better be is all Keon has running through his mind as he leaves the Princess alone.

Maia starts to head over to the post at a slower rate glancing at the girl in her arms. Out of all of life’s unplanned moments, she could never start to believe that one day she would be carrying a girl that fell from the sky.

Keon quickly works the ties of the horses to the post and rides towards the princess holding the reins of the other horse in his hands as well. As he reaches her, she hands him the girl to hold, he obeys reluctantly holding her as the princess gets up on her own horse. Once she is settled she takes the girl once again laid in front of her settling her before grabbing the reins and riding as hard as she can back to her city.

As she enters the forest once again she is almost at the regular guard lines as she starts to say to the girl “Hang on we are almost there.” A short moment later she spots the first guard, and in the commotion of her approach he is preparing for a battle from the looks of his face and body language. “Guard, alert the healer that he has an incoming.”

She rides hard past guards and her people as she enters the city, she see’s the whisperings already beginning to start. Some of her people had to have seen the box fall from the sky and it is only a matter of time before everyone knows, and only a matter of time before she has to do damage control of the situation. Looking down to the innocent body leaning on her, all she can think is you better not be trouble skybox girl. 

As the ride continues she realizes she will have to inform her father of her the situation and even more of her current actions following the discovery. Hopefully she will have time to follow through with her agenda before she informs him. Seeing the healers house approaching she gets ready to pull the reins and get down her horse. 

Realizing she rode back alone with no one following her, she has no one to hand over the girl to while she gets down. Trying to figure out a way around her predicament she places the girl thrown over her shoulder freeing up an arm to help guide her off the horse. When she gets down successfully without falling on her face and probably killing the girl she pulls the girl back into her arms rushes into the healers house.

Walking into the house, the healer was already setting up his workstation in anticipation for the girl. “Princess Maia, what can I do to help?” says the old man as he approaches the princess helping to move the body onto the table to examine.

“She has some cuts and but she has passed out. I do not know what or who I am dealing with so I will post some guards in and outside of your house as a precaution.” The princess watches as he walks around the girl to her head to examine a deep cut on her neck.

The old man looks at the cut only to look back at the princess when she finishes her sentence. He looks back at the girl to only open his mouth but close it.

“What is it?” Asks the princess slightly in a panic as she notices the look on his face.

“Is-…Is this her?” he says as he points to the sky. Knowing immediately he is referring to what fell from the sky today.

Maia takes a deep breathe before stating “I would trust that what is discussed here does not find its way out your doors?” Watching and waiting to see his reaction, he doesn’t waver and simply nods with a small bow towards her. Having dealt with him before she knows she can trust his word. “Yes” She breathes out.

The moment she answer his question, it seems that is all he needed to know and gets right to work. He stares at the vest she has on trying to figure out a way to get it off before the princess takes out a small blade and just cuts it off. As he starts to examine the girls clothing for any more blood or cuts he notices besides the one to her neck she has one to her thigh. 

When he got the news about the incoming from one of the royal guards he knew it had a high chance of having to do with what fell from the sky this morning. Through all the different possible injuries he was preparing mentally for, he is rather disappointed but amazed that it went the opposite direction. The girl was very lucky for having fallen from the sky.

He then starts to manipulate her arms and legs for any sort of breaks, fractures, or dislocations and discovers none. Giving the girl one more once over, he put his hands on the table and lets out a breath. Noticing the questioning concern on the princess’s face he immediately informs her “She will be fine, I will clean up her cuts but it seems like she has fallen unconscious because of her travels. I expect she will wake by sun down or next sun up at the latest. Do you wish to stay here or should I inform a guard to get you when she wakes?”

“That is fine, inform a guard. I have some matters to take care of first. I will let you work, thank you.” She says as she exits the house and gets back on her horse. As she is ascending onto her horse a guard is coming up to her, the same one she told to alert the healer. “I want one guard in with the healer and the girl at all times unless I say otherwise. I want three more men posted outside of his house, I do not know what to expect so be prepared for anything. I also want you to go have some guards bring that metal box somewhere where no one goes and no one will find it. Keep it locked away. Post a guard or two if need be. Only those moving the box need to know of this, can I rely on your discretion?”

The guard quickly nodding and hurrying away to his tasks, the princess starts to ride to her home. As the gates into her home come into view, the guards posted at the gates clear the way opening the gates to let their princess inside. Seeing Gunther give her a look of concern and question she knows word is floating around quicker than she expected. As she enters through he gate she rides to the front door, jumping off her horse giving the reins to one of the guards in front. “Send to my room our fastest messenger. Do not keep me waiting long.”

As she enters the house, she wastes no time making her way up the stairs to her room, her mind flooding with the current situation at hand and everything she has to do in this short period of time. Heading straight for her desk, she pulls out some paper and starts to write out her message in a letter. Before she even starts to write down her message she pauses. She pauses because the second she finishes writing down her message to send off, there is no going back. The situation is no longer in her hands, and who knows what they will do. Shaking her head clear of “the what if’s” of the future she starts to write down her message. Once she finishes she lights a match to a red candlestick tilting the candle over the folded letter having the melted wax drip onto it. Pulling out her drawer she pulls out the royal insignia stamp for The Lake People and pushes down hard on the wax.

Once the letter is ready to be delivered, the Princess starts pacing her room in anticipation for her messenger’s arrival. As if time slowed down, a subtle knock is heard at her door as she rushes to get to the other side of the room. Knowing her guards are posted everywhere she does not hesitate when opening the door. Opening the door she finds one of her guards with what she assumes is her messenger behind him. Looking at the man she extends her hand with the letter while explaining, “This is urgent, get there as quickly as you can. However be safe and do not be foolish. If you need to stop, then do so.”

Watching out for his reaction the boy stands giving her a determined nod. Content with her messenger she closes her door. Before it is shut completely she hears the boy say, “Forgive me Princess but I was not told who or where to send this to.”

Realizing her mistake in the rush of this morning she coolly responds, “The letter is for Heda, Commander of the twelve clans. Your journey is to Polis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think? New characters, new territories, and new relationships?..maybe?...looks like you will have to wait to find out ;) till next time  
> xo


	3. The Commander

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning there will be a scene with the death of animals, may be too graphic for some**

Polis

The messenger from the Princess of the Lake People reaches Polis after a three-day journey he made in two. Riding his horse and him into exhaustion, it is all worth it when the gates come into view and he approaches them. The guards noticing his presence approach the messenger weapons in hand.

Before he lets the guards question his reason for his travels, he shouts out “I have an urgent message from the Princess of the Lake People for Heda of the twelve clans!” The guards freeze to look at one another before they go to open the gates.

Surprised that they were just letting him in, he rides past the gates entering the capitol. However, shortly after entering his horse is stopped as a guard goes in front of him to grab the reins of the horse. Getting the message he is to make his way inside on foot, he dismounts the horse and follows a guard ready to lead him to the commander.

Looking into the city, the messenger can easily spot where the commander must live, as he see’s this building that seems to spiral and reach the clouds it is so towering. Knowing where he has to go the guard does not leave his side, assuming he is more there as a protector for Heda rather than his tour guide.

As they make their way to the tower, he is led into this small room that seems to be big enough for no more than 5 people. As soon as the door slides closed the room starts to lift up traveling to what can only be the Commanders floor.

Eventually the lift comes to a halt and the door opens once again to be only met with more guards. The nerves starting to get the better of him, he starts to hold onto the letter with more of a grip than before. As they make their way out of the lift, he is accompanied by another guard giving him a total of two personal guards. As they come near the end of the hallway they reach these grand double doors that reach all the way from the floor to the ceiling in this dark rich oak, also accessorized with two more guards in front of each door with weapons in hand.

The first guard to bring him to the tower speaks “He has a message for Heda from the Lake People. The matter seems to be urgent.” Before he finishes speaking he gives the messenger a look as if silently telling him that he better be telling the truth and that he better not try anything.

One of the guards at the door looks at the messenger, giving him a once over before informing the other guard “Heda is in a meeting. Wait out here, I’ll inform her of your presence.” Once he finishes, the messenger is being lead to a bench in the hallway to sit and wait. The guard knocks on the door to hear a soft yet stern “Enter” which he can only assume is the Commander herself.

Once the guard disappears inside the room, the sole guard left at the door moves into the middle of the doorway. Getting nervous, the messenger starts to rub the letter through his fingers, until he notices the paper starts to rub away and stops immediately. Cursing himself for being so apprehensive, he blames his lack of accurate rest on his travels.

The other guard returns, this time not alone. A bald man wearing this long black robe with a tattoo running from what seems to be the top of his head down the back of it, besides him. The bald man stares right at him, as if he is trying to look through him. Finding himself sitting up straighter, the bald man continues making his way past him and down the opposite end of the corridor. The guard that just came back leaves the door slightly open; taking the hint the messenger gets up and slowly makes his way to the door.

Before he can reach the door, the guard that just returned grabs his arm with his hand stopping him from taking another step. The non-gentle grasp only tightens as the man starts to say, “If you try anything I will have your head put on a post to send back to your loved ones.” His knee’s suddenly starting to tremble gives the guard a nod as the hand lets go of his arm. Before opening the door more, unsure of what to do gives a soft knock. Before he can even hear a response the same guard shoves his back into the room opening the door wide and practically throwing him into the room stumbling forward at the unexpected push.

When he recovers his footing and stands, he looks up to see a bright light illuminating the room from what seems to be an open balcony. It is what is in front of the balcony that’s grabs his immediate attention, that is a woman sitting on a throne made of what seems to be made of the arms of her enemies frozen in time. The woman is sitting, one leg crossed over the other in a comfortable manner but back straight as a blade with her arms grasping the arms of the throne looking as if in a seconds notice she is ready to launch herself up. With long brown hair braided meticulously, war paint that makes her look more animalistic than human, in full warrior armor, a long red cloth than drapes off of one shoulder and reaches the floor. These green eyes that even from his distance pierces his own, running through his body only making him tremble more than before. She is absolutely breathtakingly petrifying. Noticing the cocked brown appearing on her face, he stops staring and bows as he drops down to one knee.

Seeming not to be what she wanted him to do, he hears her impatience as she says, “Get up, my guards tell me you have an urgent message for me… Well?” Nervous to take a step forward without her permission he starts to freezes to only try and come up with words to form in his head. “The message is in this letter, I do not know what it contains. I was only told to ride fast to you to deliver it from the Princess of the Lake People.”

As the Commander hears the messenger speak she is surprised to hear the message is from the Princess but not the King. Wondering why she would possibly be sending her something, she hopes her questions will be answered in the letter. Putting her hand out in acceptance, the messenger makes his way cautiously to her holding out the letter to place in her hand. As she examines the letter’s coverings she finds the official wax seal of that of the Lake People King only raising more questions in her head.

As she tears open the letter she skips to the end to see that the Princess in fact did send it. Making her way back to the top, she starts to read the message…

_Heda-_

_Matters are urgent as we have an unexpected visitor in our land. She came falling down alone from the sky just after dawn in a metal box. I recovered the girl and she is currently with our healer unconscious. She comes unarmed, but I do not know the reason for her arrival. I will wait for your arrival before questioning her._

_-Princess Maia_

Rereading the message in disbelief, several different emotions run through her head. Giving no indication to the messenger in front of her worries, she looks up at the messenger to inform him “Consider the message received, the guards will bring you to a room where you will stay for the night to rest and recover. Once you are well rested you may return back to the Princess.” As she finishes she gets up and heads out behind the throne to the balcony.

As she looks down on her city from the view, her mind races with the new situation she was presented. _She fell from the sky…the last person to fall from the sky was…was the first commander…Is this girl here to threaten or challenge my position?.._ The Commander looks ups into the sky wondering how someone can travel from so high and survive. _What does this mean?..Is the sky wanting war with the ground? Is that a battle I can lead to victory?.. Her_ thoughts troubling her more as time passes she puts her hands on the boundary leaning off it, letting her head fall down. As her mind quiets she stands up straight glancing one more time down onto her people and heads back into the throne room demanding a guard. As one comes running in, she wastes no time “Bring me my traveling party for a trip to the Lake People. We leave in two candle marks. Prepare the horses and saddlebags.”

Her guard gives her a firm nod before running off to prepare for her travels. Knowing she was not planning a trip anytime recently she goes away to find her advisor. Heading out of the throne room she informs the guard to fetch her advisor to the throne room. After what seems like no time has passed she hears the door to her throne room open.

“Titus…I am leaving for a trip to the Lake People in two candle marks time. I do not know how long I will be away. Just make sure Polis is still standing when I do return. Lastly, I need you to handle rescheduling my meetings for the next few days till I come back.”

Nodding as he receives each task, “Yes Heda, may I ask why you are making the trip? Does this have to do with the urgent message?”

“Yes, I am overdue a visit with the Lake People. The message was an…invitation from the Princess, yet not the King, I want to see why and why I was not made aware.” As much as he is her advisor she has learned to not answer his questions with the whole truth until she knows what she is dealing with.

“Are you going to stay there for their independence festival? It is coming up over the next few days,” questions Titus.

“Yes, just another added benefit for the visit. The last time I went was when I first became commander. I have been rather busy since my ascension.”

Seeming to be satisfied with her answer, Titus nods and bows before heading out the door.

As the Commander makes her way out of the throne room, she starts to head down to her personal quarters. Once inside she approaches her desk, pulling out her official lettering and seal to start writing out her message back to the Princess. Just as she finds ink and is about to start writing, the door to her room burst open, reaching for her sword hilt but pauses. Luckily a familiar face comes through the doors that can get away with such actions and removes her hand from her sword.

“Anya…to what do I owe the theatrics?”

Not amused by the comment “Why is your travel party being assembled?”

“I am journeying to the Lake People, for an over due visit,” answers the commander.

Not buying the reason, Anya folds her arms across her chest looking at the commander with a brow cocked up as she goes around the room getting things in order for her travels. Familiar with what the silence means the commander stops moving around and turns to look at Anya. Not wanting to be the one to break the silence the commander continues on the staring game, and she is not going to give in first.

After what seemed to be a candle mark of time, after a few minutes of silence Anya is the one to break scoffing before she does so. “Am I speaking to the commander or my second?”

“Anya…”

“No Lexa, that is not the reason you’re going to the Lake People, especially last minute for a mere visit. Don’t take me for a fool, we both know where you have to pass to get there…so I’ll ask again, why is your travel party assembled?”

“This has nothing to do with the Ice Nation…If-”

“Lexa…”

The Commander knowing she cannot fool her former mentor who has known her since she was a child sighs before answering. Not sure which is frustrating more, the current situation with a visitor from the sky or the fact that Anya can read her facial expressions no matter how subtle they are.

“A situation has come up with the Lake People, earlier today I received an urgent message from Princess Maia. On top of the situation I want to find out why I have not heard from the King but his daughter instead. That is all.” Hoping that will be enough to satisfy her former mentors worries before she bombards her with more questions she is relieved when Anya relaxes dropping her arms to her sides.

After another prolonged silence Anya finally speaks “I am coming with you.”

Not surprised by the self-invitation, she knows that if she joins the travel party she will find out the truth of the reason for the trip since no one outside the party will know. When she is to find the true reason, she does not know how she will react. Anya is never one to like change but she could use her former mentor for advice if she would need it. “We leave in one and a half candle marks. I will not wait for you.” Quickly turning around to continue putting things in order she hears the faint steps and door click open as Anya leaves to get ready leaving a small smile on the commanders face.

Not being fully aware of what to expect, there is an added comfort to know not only her former mentor will be there but also her friend. Seeing as she has everything set in order she takes the time she has left over to sit on the bench at the foot of her bed and grab a wet stone to sharpen her blades. It is quiet moments like these that her mind does the opposite; the commander starts to think about this girl who has fallen from the sky. It is undeniable the connection of the girl to the first commander, the only two to have fallen from the sky. The first commander came to rebuild and renew the hopes of her people after the bombs fell, now that the twelve clans have a coalition during her current rule as commander the clans have a newfound peace. Now that presents the question of if this sky girl is here to ruin that? Blades sharp and her mind eager to find out she marches to her closet and gets ready her battle armor and war paint on for the trip.

Ready to set forth on the trip, the commander makes her way out of her tower heading to the stables to see her travel party settling their packs on the horses. Looking around more she spots her beautiful white mare horse being brushed and saddle bags being tightened by her most trusted guard Gustus. As she looks just behind the horse she sees Anya with her own horse getting ready as well. The commander is relieved to see her make it in time, given her track record in the past with close calls. Sensing the commander’s attention, Anya looks over to give the commander a nod as she mounts her horse and heads over to join the rest of the party. Adding the last pieces in her saddlebag, she walks over to greet her horse by petting her head running her hand over its light blond mane. She took out an apple from her pocket she brought for her and pulls out her knife, cutting it in half before feeding it to her horse. Once her horse goes for the last half in her hand, she turns to put her foot in the stirrup and pull herself up on her horse. She moves to the front of her travel party seeing everyone ready and set for departure.

She continues on as her party follows to the gates of Polis, as they make their way the people of Polis that are passing by on their way home or to the markets, wave eagerly at the commander. Once they make their way outside of the gates they start on a quicker pace as they start their journey, with the commander in front leading the pack.

Seeing as they left early in the afternoon, the night was encroaching on them quicker than their usual dawn departure time. Knowing the area well, the commander estimates they are a candle mark or two away from the borders of the Ice Nation lands. Not wanting to deal with them tonight the commander stops her horse turning it around to face her travel party.

“We are to make camp here for the night, we will continue on at sunrise. I will take first watch with Anya as camp and dinner is being settled, then we will have some matters to discuss while we eat.” As soon as she finished they party split as the designated people took their roles in either setting up or preparing the food.

Seeing as the commander took the north side of camp to keep her watch, Anya goes to the south end as she makes her way up the tree. Once they are both settled they keep on lookout as the night become quiet but mindful of the neighboring clan.

After a candle mark, the commander looks over to see how the camp is progressing and see’s her tent as well as others already standing high and the smell of the food filling the air. Descending down the tree, the commander hears Anya doing the same as they gather around the fire settling on some logs to sit on. Being handed a plate of some meat and potatoes, the commander waits till everyone gets their plates and settles down before taking her first bite.

Once everyone has dug into the food, about to finish it all off, the commander starts her speech. “I know you all have been informed that we are traveling to The Lake People for an overdue visit, however that is not the reason for our travels. To insure this does not get out to the other clans, I had to wait till we were outside to inform you. I received an urgent message from Princess Maia of the Lake People that two mornings ago a girl fell from the sky into her land.” Sensing the questions already forming in her warrior’s heads she continues, “She came down alone and are waiting for her to be questioned until I arrive. This does not leave the group, the clans are to stay in the dark until I know what we are dealing with here. Tomorrow we cross into the borders of the Ice Nation, they will be suspicious of our travels but we must stay on alert till we enter the borders of the Lake People. Questions?...See you at sunrise.”

With that the commander got up and went to her tent to retire. As she entered her now set up tent she started to remove her armor and weapons leaving her in just her black pants and shirt. Heading towards her table she finds a mall bowl and fills it with water that has been set up for her. She takes a fresh cloth, dipping it into the bowl of water and starts to wipe away at her war paint. As she gets the paint off she starts to wipe the rest of her face traveling down to her neck and hands. As soon as she finishes she leaves the cloth and starts to undress into her sleeping attire placing her dagger under her pillow as she peals back her furs before settling in bed and drifting off into sleep.

Just Before Sunrise

Hearing her warriors already starting to deconstruct camp, the commander awakes wasting no time in getting out of bed and changing into her clothes for the day. After refreshing herself, she puts back on her armor and war paint placing her weapons in order before heading out of the tent. As she exits her tent she informs her guard she is done with her tent and they can start to take it down. As she continues on out she finds Anya heading her way with two plates of food.

Noticing that the commander left her tent earlier than expected Anya curses herself hoping the commander is not looking for her breakfast. “Morning Heda, I was just on my way to bring you breakfast. Should I leave it in your tent?”

The commander glances around camp before choosing to answer her, noticing that the camp is already on its way to being packed up. “Mochof, I will eat outside. Care to join me?”

Anya nodding follows in step with the commander as they head to sit on a fallen tree by their camp. They start to eat in silence, the commander notices her mentor playing with food, which is not something she has seen her do before. “Anya...if there is something you wish to discuss then do so.”

“I just want to make sure you are alright.”

Brows burrowed in confusion “Why wou-“

“We are going through the Ice Nation today, there is a reason you have not visited the territory since…since Costia’s death.”

The commander’s hand halts as she cuts through her food before resuming the motion as if nothing ever happened. Surprised it was not about withholding the rest of the information regarding why they were traveling, “Yes, seeing as she is no longer being held there I don’t see wh-”

“She may not be there anymore, but it is the last place she was alive” Anya finishes trying to get the words out.

The commander freezes again before resting her utensils back on her plate as she takes a deep breath before whispering out “I do not have a choice. When it comes to my people I do not get a choice,” _yet again_ she thinks. In her mind the commander flashes back to her final meeting with Queen Nia of the Ice Nation before she was let into the coalition. They went over the terms and before the Ice Nation ambassador was branded being officially let into the coalition the Queen asked the commander one last question.

_“Any prior incidents against one another will be forgiven in favor of joining the clans?” asks the Queen._

_“Yes this is one of the only ways to truly move forward with one another and have peace between the clans,” answers the commander coolly worrying if the Queen is about to falter on joining._

_“Good, then lets carry on” the Queen states as she points a hand toward the commander for her ambassador to head forward and take the heated brand waiting in the commanders hand. As the Commander brands the Ice Nation ambassador the commander drops the branding and heads over to the Queen._

_“Queen Nia of the Ice Nation, your people are now my people and are the 12 th clan of the coalition. Let our people prosper and have everlasting peace untied as one.” Laying out her hand she grasped the Queens forearm, as does the Queen to make it official. The last clan, the most challenging clan, that the commander has the most difficult time getting to agree to joining the coalition is now officially part of it. Beyond being impressed with herself, the commander seems to feel as if her shoulders and body are lighter and at ease. She has not felt this way since before she was told she was to train as a possible future commander. Little did she know that feeling would only last for the mere moment._

_“Before we leave I have something for you Heda. Marcel…”_

_From the door emerges the Queen’s most trusted warrior, standing tall with a tanned skin that stretches over the over powering muscles that covers every inch of this mans body. Shoulders so wide, the commander was questioning whether or not he could fit through the doorway. As he approaches her, he is seen carrying a parcel._

_Pointing towards her table, the commander makes her way to the table to open what appears to be a gift from the Queen. Questioning what it could possibly be, she steals one glance at the Queen as the warrior rests it on the table in front of the commander. The commander takes the parcel and starts to untie the strings and open it. As she barely opens it a foul smell comes from the box making the commander turn away and step back as she tries to regain her composure._

_“What game are you playing at Nia? What is this?” spits out the commander._

_Her facial expressions never changing from the smirk she seems to have sewn onto her face “No games Heda, you have not even seen it yet. Excuse the smell it has been ready for you since we left to travel here.”_

_Not wanting to go near the foul smelling parcel, the commander looks at her most trusted guard Gustus to open the remainder of the parcel. As he approaches it, seemingly holding his breath, he opens it to reach inside and grab the object in the parcel. He lifts it up to show the room, only wishing he was not the one to have done so._

_The commander watches on as he takes out what is in the parcel and what happened next she would never forget. It was a head at first, but as she took a step forward and felt Titus’s hands grab her arms, she realized not what it was, but who’s it was. It was Costia’s head. Her long brown curly locks cut short in length, but there was the scar by the big open brown eyes that had it click in, it was her lovers head. Feeling as if the world itself was crashing down on her chest she lost any air that was in her body. Titus continued pulling her away as she tried to get to the remains of her lover, shouting and the sounds of weapons drawing filled the room._

_Her mind starts to run through all the events over the past few minutes and weeks of mediations. She had her suspicious when the Queen delayed the branding to ask about previous incidents and if they were to be forgiven. She planned this, she did this on purpose, and she wants me to be seen as weak. She wants to ruin the coalition. My people must have peace; I have to follow my rules. But Costia…my love…Titus’s voice starts to fill her head ‘Head over heart,’ no matter how much it feels like my heart will no longer truly beat again. My people have to be safe and have peace. Hearing the shouting only get louder as she starts to listens in._

_“How dare you defile Heda with such an act, you are asking not only for war but for your head Queen Nia” shouts Titus. “Arrest this woman as she prepares for her death.”_

_The room silences from the fierce shouts of Heda herself, “EM PLENI!”_

_“Heda…”_

_“The act occurred before the Ice Nation entered the coalition, it is to be…forgotten…this is my rule, I am to abide by it. No one is arresting the Queen. However I suggest our Ice Nation visitors leave…Now.” As the Ice Nation visitors start to head out “One more thing… Queen Nia, join me for a quick word in private.” Not knowing how much longer she will be able to hold her commander mask up she can her body start to visibly shake as the room is cleared and the Queen makes her way towards the commander but hesitantly so._

_Before the Queen of the Ice Nation can even make another comment, Lexa marches to her stopping until she is an arms length distance away before letting all of her anger pour out in her words in the lowest volume she can muster to not alarm the Azgeda guards._

_“One day you are going to slip. One day you are going to get caught. When that violation within the coalition or towards your Heda comes to my attention, and it will, I promise that you will feel EVERY ounce of pain the human body can feel right after I tear down everything you have ever built that deemed you proud or powerful till you are left as the weak, pathetic coward you are. Now leave before I throw you out. GUARDS.” With that her guards enter taking the queen out of the throne room leaving Lexa alone to collapse in on herself finally._

Having the flashback runs through her mind again Anya can only guess what exact moment it could be.

“The Ice Nation’s Queen and her accomplices will pay one day, but that day is not today. Mochof but I will be fine.” The commander resumes to finishing her food as Anya finishes along side her in silence. Once they are done Anya collects the plates as the commander heads to the horses to check on hers.

Once camp is cleared away, they set off on the journey exciting the Woods Clan and entering The Ice Nation borders. Once they enter, the commander notices Anya’s horse coming up closer to the front by her side but not matching her. She knows she is trying to be there for her and gives her former mentor a nod in her direction not meeting her eyes before looking forward once again. It has been several candle marks since they entered, passing several small villages within the clan before they are nearing the city where the Queen and majority of her army reside. As they are about to pass through, seeing the building from a distance a group of Azgeda warriors are making their way towards their party. Surprising even the commander herself that Queen Nia is a part of the party approaching theirs.

As the Azgeda group get closer, the commander halts her horse stopping her travel party as they wait for the other group to catch up to them. As the Azgeda get closer, it is the Queen who speaks first, “Heda, to what do we owe the pleasure of our visit. I was not informed you would be dropping by.”

The commander not showing any niceties through the formal greetings calls back “I am just passing through on my way to visit the other clans, your clan just happened to be on my way there.”

The Queen not satisfied with Heda’s reasoning, tries to see why and where she is actually going. “Visiting a clan yet you bring your best warriors and mentor?..”

“Seeing as my army consists of only the best warriors, bringing them all would only slow down the trip. Concern does not suit you Queen Nia, especially when it is not needed” responds the commander coolly.

The Queen’s friendly smile fading away quickly only seems to stare at the commander as if she was waiting to attack her. Knowing she cannot, at least not in this moment, she simply states “Ah yes of course, our Heda needs the best for her protection from the enemy.” As she finishes her sentence her trusted warrior trots up by the Queen with the tension rising. “Heda, you remember my trusted warrior Marcel, if only I had more like him, it is a shame” as she looks on to her other warriors as they squirm.

The commander not surprised by the Queen’s antics keeps her commander mask on as the Queen tests her patience with her last memory of Marcel. “Will that be all Queen Nia, I do have a trip to continue on.”

The Queen seems disappointed she did not receive the reaction she was hoping for with Marcel, “Yes Heda…safe travels.” And with that note the Queen turns her horse around as her and her warrior head back to their place.

The commander and her party continue on their trek being mindful of the territory they are in being on high alert. After several candle marks they are riding through until they set up camp once again as the sun starts to descend for the night. This time their progress was further along and they are only a few candle marks away from being through the Ice Nation boarders. Content with that fact, the process is the same as always, watch as camp is set up, dinner is being made, eat, sleep, and be ready at dawn. However the night did not make any promises to that effect. Once everyone had retired to their designated sleep area, the commander herself was already geared for bed as she looked through her maps once more making sure they were taking the quickest route to their destination trying to memorizing the territory they were to enter that she had not visited in a long time. As she is going through her desired trail one more time before heading to bed, she hears Gustus outside of her tent alert her of a visitor.

“Anya, what can I do for you?” the commander asks with little to no energy not bothering to look up.

“With your light still on I figured you were up trailing over your maps..” Anya starts to walk over to the table where the commander is pouring over her maps. “Trying to find the best course for Lumbus?”

Knowing the real reason she stopped by was to check up on her, she appreciates her deviating from it. “Yes, I figured here” pointing to one of the edges of the Rock line Clan territory “We could cut through the Rock clan to save some travel time to Lumbus. But with the mountains there I think it will cost more time and exhaust our horses quicker needing more breaks.”

Anya, following the direction of the commander’s finger, stands watching intently with her arms folded on her chest. “I agree, I have been through the Rock clan area before and there is no clear paths on that end, the terrain is not meant for horses. At least not at the pace we rare going at.”

The commander nodding at Anya’s weighing in decides her original plan is the one she should stick to. “I agree, I am going to retire for the night, is that all Anya?” She already turned her back on her former mentor as she starts to blow out the remaining candles leaving one to see her way around as she is taking off her last bits of armor.

“Yes Heda, I will see you at sunrise. Reshop Heda.”

“Reshop Anya.”

With that the commander blew out the remaining candle making her way sliding into her bed stretching her sore limbs from all the riding before getting in a comfortable position to drift off in.

“WOLVES!”

Bolting into and upright position the commander grabs her swords and runs out of her tent to the chaos ensuing in the camp. As soon as she exits her tent, an awaiting wolf leaps at her from the side, claws puncturing her shoulders slamming her down pushing her back in her tent through the entrance.

Not expecting one to be that near, the commander being caught off guard is the only thing that wolf is winning today. Pulling her arm free as the wolf bares its teeth growling at her ready to attack her neck with its monstrous jaws, she pulls the fur on the back of his head to expose the throat “Yu gonplei ste odon” and slices it clean. Feeling the wolf’s grip loosen as the blood continues to pour from its neck down her chest and face she pushes it off and sets back out into camp. As she rushes out more aware of her surroundings she quickly scans the scene before her. Seeing her warriors fighting off the wolves without struggle, Anya included just finishing a kill and making her way to another. Hearing a grunt from her guard Gustus around her tent she finds him struggling trapped under by a wolf that has its bite on a staff that the he is using to separate the wolf’s fangs from his neck. As she approaches, another wolf starts encroaching from behind thinking it is undetected. Rushing over to the wolf trying to sneak in, it’s ears perk up sensing her and launches itself at the struggling Gustus and wolf. Just before it can make its mark the wolf’s body stills in the air slumping and falling onto the other wolf with a sword through the side of its skull.

The fallen body of the dead wolf landed on the other wolf trapping it momentarily giving the Gustus enough time to get off his back onto his feet and grab his sword from the ground a few feet away. Just before the wolf can wiggle out from under the wolf, the guard takes his blade piercing it straight down the back of the wolf’s neck continuing until the ground beneath stops the blade as it soaks the dirt red in blood. Taking his sword out of the wolf and the other blade from the wolf slumped on top from its head he throws the blade to his Heda giving her a nod as a silent thank you for earlier.

As they head back into the center of camp her warriors are all gathered around the campfire waiting for another attack. “Have our scouts in the trees to watch for any rem-“ a load roar from what appears as three bears entering their camp charging for them. Not bothering to shout commands they spread out as some of her warriors start to shoot arrows at the bears failing to slow them down. As they come closer into fighting distance she see’s Anya make her way toward her as one of the bigger bears makes it way straight for the commander like she is his target. The other two bears run straight into the group of her warriors as they start to attack it with their blades.

The bear heading for the commander launches itself at her as she quickly slides under it feeling a claw slice deep through the right side of her back. Getting back on her feet, despite the injury already feeling the sting, she tries to straighten her body. She takes her blades and starts to attack the bear spinning and slicing through any limb or part of the bears body she can come in contact with ignoring her back’s protest. The speed at which she is going seems to make the bear stay in place trying to grab her just before she moves again.

While she distracts the bear Anya makes her way shooting arrows at the bear’s head getting one of its eyes. The bear growls in losing part of its sight and loses balance falling on its back, taking this opportunity the commander takes her blades throwing one at its head and uses the bears body as a platform by running up it from the lower end of its belly to its neck to slice it as she jumps off. Successfully getting the cut deep enough, evident by the gargling sound of the blood filling the back of the bear’s throat. Whispering “Yu gonplei ste odon,” she watches the bear succumb to its fate. Feeling her left leg tightening she see’s blood spilling down her pants from her thigh, considering the risk of running on the bear it is not a bad outcome.

As the commander looks at her warriors finishing their kills she is content with the threat being resolved without major injuries or loses. Staring to look at the remains of the six wolves and three bears in total, out of all her years as Commander she has never heard of an attack from animals this large in numbers at once. Thinking back to her maps she did not take a route near any known bear or wolf den’s. Questioning the coincidence of the attacks from two different species she starts to look over her latest kill closer. Crouching down by the body with her elbows resting across on her knees, she notices the thinning of hair and discoloration around the bottom of its legs like if it were tied with rope being held captive.

“Heda-” ignoring Anya’s concern as she makes her way toward the bodies of the other two bears she finds similar markings around them. Wanting to see if her theory was a possibility she makes her way to the wolves one by one confirming her theories. They all had the same markings. Standing up and scratching her head she makes her way to her warriors that started to gather close by awaiting word from their commander as she examined the animals bodies.

“This was not just an attack, but an orchestrated one. The bears and wolves all have the same rope markings around the bottom of their legs. We are close to exiting the Ice Nation borders and I believe a certain Queen sent them. Double the scouts in the tree’s tonight and keep your weapons close incase she sends more to finish the job.” Turning away to head back into her tent, she notices Gustus already moved the dead wolf out of her tent.

Feeling a grip on her forearm “Heda, you’re bleeding.”

Looking back at her former mentor and feeling the strain of her injuries, “They are flesh wounds, I am fine.”

As Anya lets go of the commander’s arm she nods before heading back to her tent.

As the commander finally steps foot into her tent she starts to reach for her armor straps to take them off to only realize she never put any on. Looking down on her body, with blood soaked pants and tank she is surprised she did not get seriously injured. As she starts to grab a cloth, before she gets a chance to wipe her self down and clean up her wounds she hears the footsteps of Anya entering her tent. “I told you I am fine Anya…I can clean my wounds myself.”

“Heda, maybe you shouldn’t.”

Whirling around to Anya’s unexpected words, she finds her former mentor displaying not emotions towards a joke. “What-”

“I have an idea”

The commander turns the rest of her body towards Anya as she wits for an explanation.

“We are going to make it to where they are holding the Skaigirl in a few candle marks. You should use this failed attack to your advantage. Enter as an injured warrior discarding any commander armor and hair braids. Then get to know what the true motives of this Skaigirl are as Lexa and not Heda of the twelve clans.”

Thinking over Anya’s idea, the commander see’s the potential of this plan. However it seems too simple. “What if I am recognized by someone and exposed? The Lake people will know I am Heda.”

“To be fair Heda... you have not visited the Lake People since you were younger at your ascension, they know what their Heda is suppose to look like. They will not expect or suspect you as Lexa. You will have to change your hair, your clothing and armor, and you cannot take your horse. The only ones who will know you are the commander are the King and princess of the Lake People, their ambassador is still in Polis so he will be unaware.”

Besides her stern expression dropping at the news of not taking her horse, her mind was starting to further develop her mentor’s plans. “We could send them a message warning them of our change of plans…they can inform anyone else who might suspect that we are unaware of…We will inform the rest of the warriors at dawn of the change in plans.” The commander then grabs a letter with some ink to write down a message to Princess Maia. As she starts scribbling on the letter, Anya turns to head out of the tent.

Not bothering to look up, “Where do you think you are going?” the commander calls out.

“Apologies Heda I thought-” stammers Anya.

“We have to figure out my disguise, there is much left to discuss. You are staying here; we are not going to rest tonight. We need the restlessness to play into our story as we arrive at their gates.” As she seals the finished letter she calls out to Gustus “Send a messenger as soon as dawn approaches to Princess Maia the message is urgent. Once it is delivered tell him to meet the rest of the party in the first village by the border.” The guard nodding turns to go find a messenger.

“We?..” Anya speaks up.

“I would think as you came up with the idea you would want to take part? If I am mistaken-” tests the commander.

“Heda I would be honored.” Anya walks deeper into the tent as she grabs a brush and stool. She places the stool on the ground in front of her gesturing to the commander to sit down on it. As she sits she give the commander the brush as she sits back at the table and prepares to write down the new details they come up with.

The commander starts to undo her braids herself shaking away the tight pulls on certain strands in her hair feeling her head feel lighter and free. That night the two of them stay up as they brainstorm more details until it is time to reassemble for departure.

As the sun starts to lighten the skin of the tent, Anya and the Commander emerge from the tent in disguise and as bloody as they were after the attack. As they make their way closer to the gathered warriors by the horses they can sense the confusion on the warriors faces.

“Change of plans, as soon as we enter the Lake People territory we will pass a village. You are all to stay there to recover and rest until Anya and I come to collect you in a week’s time or more. Anya and I are going to enter the land of Princess Maia as injured warriors seeking their healer. I will enter not as the commander and hope to find the true reasons for the landing of this Skaigirl this way. I have sent a messenger this morning to the Princess to alert them of the change of plans. The messenger will come to meet you in the village by the end of the day. Gustus, you will take my horse as I will take yours for this mission to be successful. Ready the horses.”

Gustus follows the commander “Heda, are you sure this is a good idea?”

Knowing his concern as her most trusted guard “Are you questioning my decisions or Anya’s abilities? Must I remind you Anya was my mentor who trained your Heda?”

“I worry for your safety Heda that is my job. You saw what happened last night.”

“We will separate our party only once we exit the Ice Nation boarders and then we should not have any problems. It will work Gustus, worry not.” Giving her guard a small smile and hand on his arm she passes him to find her new horse and adjust the saddlebags. Once the horse is settled she makes her way to her white mare horse cutting an apple she has for her. Petting her horses face she can sense her horse becoming aware of her about to ride another as the saddlebags are switched. The commander starts to remember being gifted the beautiful horse when she became Heda and being warned not to name it. To name it meant to grow attached which she could not afford, as it was a warhorse destined for one thing; battle with Heda. Even though she was told not to name it, it did not stop her from sneaking her horse apples, carrots, and celery when she got the chance.

As she leaves her horse she finds Gustus’s horse and mounts it. Realizing this is the first time she has ridden any other horse besides her own she makes minor adjustments to the saddle and reins for her comfort. Once she is content with her positioning, she clicks her tongue and kicks the horse into moving forward to start on their last leg of their long journey.

As they make their way into the Lake People borders the first village is seen at a distance visible to the eye. Halting her horse as she turns it around to face her approaching party she calls out “This is where we part ways. I will be gone two weeks at most. If I do not return send a messenger to get word from the Princess.” As she stays one by one her warriors ride past her giving a slight bow with a nod towards their commander. Gustus is the last to pass her. Seeing her horse one last time she tries to looks only at Gustus who seems reluctant to leave her. He rides closer to the commander sticking his arm out; the commander sticks her own out as they grasp one another arm in a hold, “Stay strong Heda.”

As he passes her Anya rides up by the commander as they head around the village not stopping and going down the path to their destination. As they are abut a candle mark away from the gates of their desired location the commander comes to a halt in the middle of the field. Anya halting her horse as well looks over at her “Why are we stopping?”

The commander dismounts from the horse “Get off your horse.” Anya dismounting continues to look at the commander questioning their delay. “Hit me.”

“W-What..” Anya manages to spit out as she folds her arms in front of her.

“Hit me. The story needs to be as believable as possible and our injuries are not that alarming. So, hit me.”

Sensing Anya is not going to make a move, surprising since she believed it to be tempting. She grabs her blades and starts to attack Anya swinging relentlessly. Anya barely manages to get her blade out in time to parry the attack. She tries to back away from the swings of the commander’s attacks until a tree starts to block her retreats. Finally Anya starts to attack back at the commander and soon enough they are both attacking full swing at one another. They continue this way for a while until they both get a few good cuts in the other and blows to the body and face. Once they start to get winded they both walk away from the other before lowering their weapons and resheathing them. Giving the other a once over as they struggle to stand straight they can see the bruises already start to form around the jaw.

They grab a quick drink from their waterskins and remount their horses. As the gates come into view Anya is the first to speak “Nervous Heda?” as she throws the commander a smirk, the commander returns the smirk as she returns her focus to the gates. “Stop trying to stand straight up, slouch as a normal injured person would.” Laughing to her self, Anya see’s the commander struggle with not straightening her back. They finally reach the gates as two guards step towards them with their weapons in hand examining the two and their messy state.

“What business do you have here?” says the bigger one of the guards.

Sensing the commander not wanting to have her voice heard, she speaks up instead “We come seeking a healer and aid, we were attacked last night by bears in our camp.”

The guard does one more of a look over on the two warriors before walking with the other guard towards the gates to open them. Anya looks over to the commander, as she seems to let out a breath she was holding in, they didn’t recognize her. It worked. The commander seeming to be thinking the same thoughts rides forward with Anya past the gates into the town.

“Ready Lexa?” Anya tries to say just low enough that she can catch it.

Lexa looks over at Anya before saying “Ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took longer to get this up than expected. I will never rush a chapter till i think it is perfect. Super long one, enjoy :) Also i am not going to follow a posting schedule, i will try once every two weeks or less but they will hold similar length so worth it no?


	4. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke is awake...Now is the time for answers.

Lumbus

_“The letter is for Heda, Commander of the twelve clans. Your journey is to Polis.”_

With that she closes the door to turn around and lean with her back into the door. Her knees give way as she slides down until she is sitting on the floor leaning back with her legs out in front of her. With her head looking up and eyes closed, she says to herself _here we go Princess._

Gathering herself, she lifts herself with her two feet under her as she heads out the door to her father the King of The Lake People. As she slowly makes her way, she busies her mind with how the conversation might play out. The more she repeats her reasoning’s for her actions, her stride lengthens and confidence radiates as she makes her way to the room with purpose standing tall.

As she reaches his door, the guards part in opposite directions. As she places her hand on the handle she pauses to take a breathe before pushing down to open the door.

When she looks up from closing the door, she see’s Keon bowing before her father and making his way towards her. Realizing where Keon disappeared to when she took the skybox girl to the healers, it can only mean he told the King everything.

Staying frozen in place, the Princess’s eyes are glue to Keon as he passes the Princess without bothering to look at her before making his way out to the door and slipping out.

Looking from the door to where her father is, she starts to make her way to the other side of the room. As she gets closer to her father’s bed, she walks around to one of the bed posts that are blocking her view of his face. As she gets closer, the yellowing in the whites of his eyes appear worse than the day before making her forget for a moment about that mornings new visitor.

Settling herself on the edge of his bed, she picks up one of his hands and placing it in-between hers.

The King is watching his daughter as she sits down and looks over his face. Knowing the reason she is here, he waits for her to break the silence, he knows it is only a matter of time.

After a few more moments, the Princess loses the same game her father always plays by being the first to speak. “I assume Keon informed you of the current situation?”

“He has…Why was he the one to inform me?” asks the King not too keen on having to hear the news not from his daughter.

“I had to deal with the girl before I could inform you. I was just on my way here before-”

“How exactly did you handle the situation exactly? From what I heard, you did the most careless thing.”

“Father I-”

Pushing himself up a bit from the bed, struggling against his body’s lack of strength, “An outsider falls from the sky to only be carried out by you alone to the healers? Do you realize how easily you made yourself an exposed target. Maia, you should know better. All of your training… and for what? To be thrown away at the first situation to rise?”

“It is because of my training that I knew I was not in any danger. She was injured and unconscious with no weapons on or around her. She does not even resemble a warrior, and if she was I am sure I could handle her. Besides, I had Keon with me.”

The King huffs “Well at least there is that.”

After a moment of silence the King continues to question on his concerns “What exactly are you planning to do with the girl?”

“I sent a messenger to Heda informing her of the situation. Until she arrives I will wait for the girl to wake, and see why she has landed here.”

Looking away from his daughter as he settles back into the bed, he takes a deep breath “The commander has not been here for a long time. I assume she will be surprised at receiving a message from you and not me.”

“I had no choice, if there is anyone who will know what to-”

“I know… You did the right thing Maia. It is about time you meet the Commander officially, soon you will have to reenter her coalition as Queen, once…Once I pass.”

The mention of his passing makes Maia’s face look up to her father’s eyes once again. It is the first time her father had mentioned the possibility of not getting better. Continuing on “What will you do while you wait for the commander?”

“I… I was hoping you could tell me” answers the Princess.

“What do you think you should do?” Asks the king

Wondering if his hearing is compromised due to his health “I just asked yo-”

“Maia… enlighten me. Please.”           

“I want to question her… of where she comes from and why she is here now. I searched her box, I only found a bag with clothes, some tools, and a map. The box is something I had never seen before…Looks like it is from another world. If she seems to be a threat, I will lock her up and let her fate be decided by Heda once she arrives. I will act according to how the questioning plays out.”

“Good. Now remember, one of your best skills is reading people. Use it. Go with your gut. However, if she makes any intentions of an attack, do not let your blade be useless. Heda will understand.”

Giving her father a nod, she takes a moment to adjust his bedding around him to make him more comfortable while a smile starts to show from the corner of her mouth.

“What is so amusing?” wonders the King

Letting out her laugh she responds “I find it amusing your lack of help, always answering my questions with more questions.” She turns to face her father expecting him to reflect her sentiments, to only see a serious look on his face.

He responds, “I will not be alive much longer to answer them. It is time you figure it out yourself.” He raises his hand on Maia’s face, cupping it as his thumb rubs against her cheek “You will make a great Queen of our people Maia. Remember that.”

Placing her own hand over his, she closes her eyes letting a tear fall down to only be wiped away with his thumb.

The sound of the door clicking open, causes the Princess to open her eyes as she hears one of the guards call out “Princess, she is awake.”

The first thing she hears as she starts to wake up is the shuffling of feet around her as the light in the room starts to creep through her eyes. The pain of her injuries making her become more alert, as she tries to stretch her body as she releases a groan. As her eyes start to blink open, she notices the sounds around her came to a halt. Realizing this, she tries to sit up, her eyes beginning to focus on the images in front of her. As she pulls her arms, she feels something stopping them from going much further. She looks at her wrists and see’s restraints on them.

Trying to sit up on the table with the added difficulty, to look around and find herself in a room with an short old man with these big men that have tattoo’s covering too much of their skin and weapons in hand as well as strapped to other places.

Her mind starts to flood of her last moments with her mom, waking up in the pod after landing, and girl with dark hair and bright light hazel eyes. Not knowing what to make of the last memory she starts to shuffle back on the table to create more distance between her and these strangers.

One of the large men from the group leaves the room as the others continue to look at her, almost as if they were wary of her instead of the other way around.

Clarke starts to look around the room more closely as she keeps the men in her peripheral vision. She see’s bowls of water and rolls of cloth and tools that resemble medical tools. As she recognizes what seems to be different herbs and jars of labeled around in cupboards all around the room.

Remembering her injuries she looks down on her self-examining the new bandage on her right thigh. As she turned her neck to look at her thigh she felt a something bandaged on her neck pull, she tries to press her left hand to her neck but the restraint stops her halfway to the bandage draped there.

Looking up to face the group of men once again to question, “Where am I?”

The group of armed men shuffle their feet in reaction to her question but remain silent. The small old man however steps forward toward the girl slowly. He reaches over picking up a small wooden basin holding water and a cloth. He dips the cloth into the water as he delicately returns to cleaning the blood and grime off of her arm.

Watching him carefully, she looks over his features now that he is in a closer view. For a small man he is not frail, even though he has a slender frame. His rolled up sleeves reveal strong muscles along his forearms. He has his hair cut short as if he is bald but she can tell he is naturally only bald on the top half of his head. Realizing finally who he must be she speaks again, “You cleaned my wounds.”

The old man’s grey blue eyes flash up to hers sporting a light smile and he curtly nods as he resumes tending to her. As he is finishing up he gathers his supplies and moves them back to the counter on the other side of the room. Watching him as he moves around the room she tries again “Where am I?”

The healer pauses his movements for a moment before resuming as if nothing was asked of him.

“Who are you?” Frustrated that no on is answering her questions, Clarke starts to get annoyed. She knows the man can understand her, so why is he not answering? As she is about to ask her next question the old man leaves the room.

Now that it is just her and two giant armed men with tattoos and weapons in hand, Clarke starts to get panicked. She starts to back up on the table more and look around her to see if there is anything remotely close to a weapon she could use to defend herself. Seeing nothing she looks back at the men hoping they do not come forward.

She continues to scan the room trying to figure out an escape plan if it comes to that but she knows it probably will not help her anyways. Nonetheless she prepares for the next move, because it will be the men and not her.

The sound of the door clicking opening grabs her attention out of her thoughts, and who enters gives her a much needed feeling of relief as the tension leaves her shoulders. It is the same pair of light hazel eyes followed by the flow of dark black hair and light colored skin that appears on the familiar girl.

“You.”

Clarke watches as the girl reacts to her words never letting her stare leave Clarke’s eyes. The girl dressed in dark brown boots that reach her mid thigh and a leather coatdress that has a slit up each leg to the thigh leaving a long flap of the leather dress to run down between her legs all the way down almost touching the ground. The light brown dress coat covers all the way down her arms and tightly hugs her torso leaving a hood resting down on her shoulders.

The girl whispers something to the men around her as they leave the room leaving just the two of them alone. The more Clarke examines the girl the more she notices the lack of weapons on the girl compared to the men that just left. Hopefully that means she is not here to hurt her, or possibly that she doesn’t need weapons to do what she needs.

The comfort Clarke initially felt when the girl entered slowly creeps away as the silence becomes louder in her ears. She can hear her own pulse thud loudly in her ears. The girl continues to stare down Clarke showing no emotions as she leans back against the door and crosses her arms over her chest.

The Princess is now taking the time to get a good look at this girl from the sky now that she is fully awake and alert. Her golden blonde hair and blue eyes as bright as ever, in the dimly lit room. The Princess noticed the blond relax when she entered as if she felt safe with her presence. Remembering what her father told her earlier she tries to keep her guard up event though her heart tells her she doesn’t need it.

“Who are you?” the princes spits out.

Clarke realizing the feeling might not be mutual, she answers now more reserved “I am Clarke. I came from-”

“The sky. I saw.” The princess replies.

Clarke looks down at her hands as the silence consumes the room once again. Playing with her fingers nervously she looks up when the girl breaks the silence once again.

“Are you a threat…Clarke?”

“No. Do I give you that impression?” Clarke quirks back, realizing it is not the time or place for her snap backs, she starts to regret it as the girl peels herself from the door and walks straight to her. Starting to try and shuffle back more the girl pauses her steps at the Clarke’s reaction towards her.

“I won’t hurt you.” Once she see’s the blond relax a bit she continues forward as she reaches to remove the restraints off of the blonds wrists. As she starts to loosen it she notices a thick band on the girls wrist with numbers on it. Making a mental note of the band for another time she finishes loosening the restraint as Clarke slips her hand free. “You do not give that impression,” the princess continues. She looses the other restraint leaving Clarke to rub her wrists while looking up at the dark haired girl.

Surprised by the dark haired girls actions, she watches as the dark haired girl takes a step back to give Clarke some space. “Who are you?”

Resuming to folding her arms over her chest once again “I am Maia.” Before she is flooded with more questions she starts “Why are you here?”

Clarke starts to play with her fingers again and the watch on her wrist as she contemplates how to answer the girls question. “I lived in the sky on a place called The Ark. My father discovered a problem with the Ark…” Maia watched as Clarke clutched the band she noticed earlier and started to tear up. Trying to compose herself Clarke continues on “… because I knew his secret that he tried to expose to our people; I was locked away to wait for my death on my 18th birthday. My mother and her friend kidnapped me earlier today from my cell and sent me down in a pod to the ground. No one knew the ground was survivable, but my mother figured if there was a chance it was, it is my only shot at a chance to live. So she drugged me and sent me down. I came alone, but I didn’t know…No one knew there were people that survived the bombings living on the ground.”

Maia tries to take in all of the new information as she listens to the blonde, she is just surprised that there were people living in the sky. As she watched Clarke talk about why she was here, the blonde’s face held no mask. All of different emotions displayed through her face ran freely and were true. On the ground the lack of ability to have a mask is considered a fools fate, but in this instance, it may save this Skaigirl life. When Clarke spoke of her father she assumed her lack of control of her emotions had to do with her father. Wondering what happened to her father she presses on “What of your father? Was he imprisoned as well?”

Clarke, trying to compose herself, lets a tear fall as she explains, “He was floated.”

The Princess trying to understand was she means by the phrase tilts her head in question.

Realizing it did not translate, Clarke explains, “He was sucked into the vacuum of space where there is no oxygen…It serves as the punishment of death of our people.”

Seeing the blonde getting more emotional, she understands the pain the blonde is experiencing. The Princess lets out a sigh as she says to herself _I understand, I have lost family too_. Finding her voice again she continues on her questioning, “What was your role in this place you call The Ark?”

“My mother is the head Doctor or healer as you say on The Ark, I would help her with patients. I am good at it, but it is not the path I wanted. I like to draw, but it had no need in The Ark so I just helped in the infirmary.”

The Princess head perked up at the mention of being a healer, right away thinking of her father. Wondering if the girl could possibly help her father she asks “Are you healing ways similar to ways of ours? Do you recognize the materials in this room?”

Clarke looking around the room once again responds, “I recognize some tools, however you guys do not have any technology like we have. I am guessing those herbs are the main source of our medicinal antidotes. We have different medicine in The Ark because of our technology and science advancements.”

The Princess thinks back to the metal box that this Clarke landed in. She had never seen something like it before, assuming it is related to the technology she speaks of she can only imagine what their healers can achieve.

“This is the healers home…You will stay here for the night and can spend your days working alongside him. See what you offer from the sky and see what you can learn from him. We have many people in need, anything you can offer to save more lives would be appreciated. There is one case in particular I would like for you to have a look at and see what you can do.”

Clarke starts to relax as the Maia talked but questioned which case this was “What is the case?”

Looking at the Skaigirl in the eye she bites the inside of her mouth to stop her from revealing too much to someone whom is still unknown, a trick her father taught her. “I will have a guard bring you after breakfast.”

Finished with the conversation the princess just turns around and heads out of the healer’s house to leave Clarke to herself.

Taking in everything that has just occurred Clarke is surprised at how well that went for the most part but not naive that there might still be danger for her ahead that doesn’t lie immediately but still in the future. She starts to think of this case and hopes to prove her ability and place here in it. She starts to go through the different cases she has assisted her mother on that were not the simple colds and flu’s.

Looking around she see’s the cot on the side with a pillow and coverings and retreats to the cot to lie down and fall asleep against her heads questioning.

Day 2

Clarke wakes up to the sound of a knock on the door. Immediately she jolts upright in the cot pulling the covers up to her. The knocking continues until Clarke hears a muffled “Skaigirl…May I enter?”

Surprised by the question, Clarke quickly replies, “Come in.”

The guard opens the door making his way in with what seems to be a tray of food as the steaming plate aroma fills the room. Noticing the way her stomach starts to rumble she realizes how hungry she is.

The guard places the tray on a table with chairs in the room and turns to face Clarke “Eat.”

Once Clarke starts to get up to make her way to the food he guard is still there looking at her. It is only once she is seated at the small table that he looks at the food and back at her. Taking the hint she takes a bite of an apple and looks at the guard who nods and makes his way out to leave her to eat alone.

As she continues chewing she notices how flavorful the apple is, compared to the ark their apples had no particular taste. Looking at what appears to be meat and eggs, she cuts a piece to put into her mouth. As soon as it hits her tongue she closes her eyes and sighs at how good it is. Food to her always just had the same general taste, but with eat bite of the different foods on her plate she tastes their individual saltiness, spices, and sweetness. She is quick to finish her meal and drink down the water along with it. She starts to sit and revel in the mini food coma she is in until she hears the door come open once again.

Starting to stand up she sees it is the old man from yesterday that tended to her wounds. “You are the healer who tended to my wounds.”

The old man smiles as he shuts the door and faces Clarke as he nods. “Yes, my name is Rhys. We have not been properly introduced.”

Clarke sticks her hand out to Rhys to which he looks at and back at her before taking it as Clarke starts to pull away. As he takes her hand he smiles once again before saying “Is this how the sky greets?”

Clarke smiles back and says, “Yes, how do you greet people?”

Rhys takes her hand that is still holding onto his, and places it higher up to arm to grip just before his elbow as his hand does the same on Clarke.

Clarke smiles again at the healer before saying “Hi Rhys, I am Clarke. Thank you for you for taking care of my wounds, they are healing nicely.”

“May I check them? The wrappings should be changed.”

They let go of one another’s arm as Clarke goes to sit on the examination table as the healer goes to checking the wounds. After removing and replacing the wrappings on the wounds, one of the guards enters the healers.

“I am here to collect the Skaigirl to meet with Maia.”

“I am to go check on Maia’s special case patient to see if I can help” she says the Rhys trying to see if he will give her any more information. She notices the way the light in his eyes starts to dim a little as he gives her another smile before saying “Good luck Clarke, I will see you after to start our discussions.”

With that Clarke leaves with the same guard that brought her, her food that morning. As she steps outside she takes in the brightness of the sky that lights the day shinning on the giant tree’s, green of the grass, the different homes all around and people that are walking around the town.

Realizing this is her first time actually seeing the outside since her small flashbacks of landing, she cannot believe that there is life and healthy life that is growing breathing and living after the bombs. How did The Ark not know this? There is a whole society living here, playing, and surviving.

Her thoughts are interrupted, as a building appears in view that almost looks like a mini castle. Freezing in her place Clarke takes in the building noticing that is where they are heading. The amount of details she notices even from the distance compared to the building they just passed shows that this is still standing from the old world before the bombs and the rest was rebuilt after.

The guard notices Clarke has stopped to look at the palace of the King of The Lake People. He looks at Clarke seeing her look at everything in awe as she sees everything for the first time. He starts to walk ahead of her to try to bring her attention back and after a few steps he can hear her loud ones following his.

As they head to the gates they run into the gate keep who nods in their direction as they pass through and into the palace.

As they enter the palace Clarke is just entranced by every new detail that emerges at every turn of her head that she fails to notice Maia standing in the lobby awaiting her arrival. “Clarke of the Skai, I see you are enjoying the sights?”

Clarke looks at the direction of the voice to only startle at not noticing Maia being lost in her thoughts. Clarke smiles looking around once again before saying “It is so beautiful. Everything. From the trees, to the town, to this amazing castle…The details alone are endless…” Clarke laughs before looking back at Maia and noticing her sporting a small smile.

“It may not be a castle,..” she says as she looks around the place “however we are in the Palace of the King of The Lake People.”

Clarke’s jaw slightly drops at her words as she looks around once again and notices herself straightening up her posture and her hands come closer to her sides.

Noticing Clarke tense up at the realization of where she actually is, Maia starts to explain, “Come Skaigirl you have someone to meet.” She moves to walk down the hall but turns around to gesture to Clarke to walk with her. As Clarke starts to walk with her down the hall, Maia gestures to the guards for some space as they already guard the halls.

Maia starts to speak to Clarke in more of a whisper as they head up the stairs, “The patient you are to see is the King. He has been ill for quite some time now. It is feared that there is nothing that can be done for him, as he grows weaker as the days pass. You mentioned you were a healer in the sky, I want to know if you can help him.” At point this they pause at a door.

Clarke swallows before saying “I will try my best, I have to see what it is first to know how to proceed. But I will do my best.”

Maia nods at Clarke before opening the door and walking in first as Clarke follows.

As they enter the room, instantly Clarke’s eyes are glued to the walls and ceiling of this massive room. The walls and ceiling have engravings in the molding and then a massive painting of the sky with figures floating between the clouds. She has seen pictures of murals like this in books in the ark but seeing it in person is another experience in itself. Hearing the a cough from Maia, Clarke focuses again on the task as she walks up beside Maia.

Maia goes to sit on the bed once again, as she reaches for her fathers hand seeing that he is asleep.

Clarke watches the intimate exchange and starts to question the relationship between the King and Maia. Wondering whether he was a mentor of hers, the King starts to awaken and then it hits her. His eyes. The light hazel in them that is unmistakable. Even with the yellowing in the whites of his eyes, Clarke now knows who her important patient is, its Maia’s father. The King is her father; this makes Maia the Princess…her thoughts turning in her head Clarke looks at the back of Maia’s head as she takes in this change in information.

“Maia, my daughter…” The King whispers out.

Maia takes the Kings hand to rise to her cheek and she looks back at him.

“And you brought a friend…who might this be?” The king tries to turn his head to look around Maia but isn’t successful. He looks back at Maia and see’s the same look she had at a child when she was about to be in trouble.

At this point Clarke takes two steps forward so she is closer to the bed for the King to see her.

As the King looks over Clarke, he notices the difference in clothing and lack of clan markings answering his own questions. He looks back at Maia before speaking, “This is the Skaigirl?”

Maia nods her head as she places her fathers hand back on the bed still attached to her hand. “She was a healer for her people. I have seen the box she landed in, it is unlike anything we have seen. Maybe she can help you…she is not a threat.” Seeing the lack of trust and faith in his eyes she mouths the words _please._

The King releases a breath and looks back at Clarke to say, “Well, let us see this skill you have then. What is your name Skaigirl?”

“I am Clarke. It is a pleasure to meet you King of the Lake People. Your home is beautiful.”

The King nods at her, “Clarke…well carry on with your examination.”

Maia looks at Clarke as she gets up from her spot on the bed to head to the other side of the bed to watch as Clarke examines her father.

Clarke cautiously approaches the King looking at the guard in the corner of the room.

The King notices her hesitation, but patiently waits for her to start.

Clarke finally makes her way to the King and starts with his hands. She tests his capillary refill rate and looks at the skin around his hands pale and spotting. She grabs both hands and says “Squeeze my fingers as hard as you can.” As he does she see’s how much his strength is week, especially on his right. She then goes to his face, the first thing she noticed when entering was the yellowing in his eyes.

“May I have a candle or light of some sort?” Clarke asks. After hearing scuffling behind her a guard approaches her with a lit candlestick she nods in thanks and goes back to her exam. She holds onto the Kings chin as she tells him “Do not follow the light just look forward at me.” She swipes the candle slowly from the right side to the left side of his face to examine his pupil reactions. “Now follow the light with your eyes only.” He does as she says. When she is done she puts the candle down to put her hand on his head to see he is warm but not alarmingly so. She continues on with her examination from checking under his eyelids, his pulse, to opening his shirt to poke and agitate his stomach and chest to ask him about his symptoms.

Just as she is starting to close his shirt, The King starts to breathe heavily until he starts to barely be able to breathe. Suddenly everyone in the room gets closer and one of the guard’s grabs one of Clarke’s hands that were extending towards the King. Maia looks at Clarke, panic taking over her features, before Clarke shakes her back “This was not me, his lung is probably collapsed and I need to fix it.”

Maia looks back at her father and then at Clarke before she spits out “Let her go.”

Clarke pulls her arm free and places her head on the Kings chest to hear which if her prediction is right; she locates the left lung as the cause. “I need a knife, a thin hallow tube, and possibly a needle.”

Immediately the guards run around the room gathering supplies for her. Once she is given everything she asked she examines the tube she is given as an old ink pen. Luckily it seems to not have been in use so it is generally sterile. She starts to count the intercostal spaces and then cuts a small incision in-between the ribs. She starts to take apart the pen and leaves just the sharp point and tube in her hands and she pushes it into her incision until she hears the hissing of air and the deep breath of the King.

As the Kings eyes focus on Clarke, the Princess seemed to have brought herself closer alongside the King as he had difficulty breathing and her eyes have tears that are threatening to fall down.

Clarke lets out a deep-breath as she goes to pull out slowly the ink pen and watches to see as his breathing reacts. He continues steady breaths and she feels confident he will be okay for now. “It should not happen again, but you must rest.”

The King nods at Clarke before saying in between breathes, “Thank you…Skaigirl…Your skills…are…impressive.”

Clarke gives him a small smile as she nods and makes her way off the bed.

Before she notices, Maia is off the bed and grabs Clarke with her out of the room. They continue on down the hallway the other end of the hall into another room. This room however is vastly different from the one they just left. This room only holds a long table with chairs that seems to serve as a dining area.

Clarke remains a few steps into the room and the Princess paces by the side of the table. The guard closes the door behind them, but the Princess continues to pace her arms folded in front of her chest with her head looking up. Clarke decides to not be the one to break the silence and wait till Maia breaks from her thoughts.

After what seems like hours, Maia finally stops pacing but this time is looking instead at the table to her side instead of Clarke.

“Well?...What did you find?” She manages to get out.

Clarke goes through all the different indications from her examination but it is not good news. “He is in late stage liver failure. Soon the rest of his organs will start to fail. Once that happens, it will be time to sa-…to say goodbye.” Clarke’s own voice breaks at the end of the sentence.

Maia finally comes to look at Clarke. “How long?”

“Not long. A week maybe.” Just as she finishes answering she hears the slight gasp from the Princess.

“Is ther-…Is there anything you can do?”

Clarke looks down at her hands that she folds in front of her as she takes a few steps forward to Maia. When she looks back up she see’s the look on the Princesses face of hope. Hope that is about to be broken. “I can only make him comfortable…that is all.”

All of a sudden the Princess looks as if she was kicked behind her knee as she lands kneeling on one knee with a hand on the floor that is keeping form the rest of her body following.

Clarke steps forward to place a hand on her should and comfort her. As soon as her hand lands, she feels the slight trembling of the Princess.

“I knew it was happening…but now…now it is real.” Maia manages to get out as she tries to keep her emotions under control.

Clarke grips onto her should firmer moving the dark hair from Maia’s face, “I’m sorry.”

It is at this the Princess looks up at Clarke with a questioning look on her face. “You did not do anything wrong. There is no need for apologies.”

Clarke does not know what to say or do to help so she lets the silence carry out between them. To her surprise Maia speaks up again.

“Thank you…for earlier. I thought I had lost him for good. Thank you for giving him more time…even if its is not enough.”

Clarke’s heart breaks at this, “At least now you know the time you have to make the most of it. You get to have a loved one pass with the ability to say the things you want to say and make sure they do not pass alone…I know I wished for that…It will not be easy, but at least you have a heads up. Do not let it go to waste.”

The Princess looks at Clarke with sad tear filled eyes and gives her a small smile. She then clasps her arm on Clarke’s shoulder to give her a firm squeeze before gets up. Once she is up, she straightens herself up and gives a hand for Clarke to help her stand up.

“You may work with our head healer, learn our ways and show him the ways of the sky to benefit my people. You will have a room to stay in the palace as my guest. Thank you again Clarke of the Skai, I will leave a guard to show you to your room.”

With that the Princess grasps Clarke’s hands to give a reassuring squeeze with another smile before leaving the room and slipping out the door leaving Clarke alone in the abandoned dining hall.

Soon after she leaves the same guard accompanying her lately, opens the door entering with a bow, once Clarke turns around to face him. “Skaigirl, I am to show you to your room.”

She follows the guard down the hall to go up the stairs into another hallway that is not as long but still seems to hold several rooms. The guard leads her to the second door at the end of the hall on the left.

Once Clarke enters the room she seems to feel as if she is in another world. The bright light and colors of the room immediately put her at ease as she takes in the space. With two big windows on the front side wall slightly open has the light breeze blowing the light white curtains to flow. As she turns to her right from the door she see’s a large mirror and desk with what seems to be some type of paper and inks. As her gaze is lifted she comes to see the massive bed with posts on all four corners. Wrapped around each bedpost is this park blue fabric that stems from the top blue cloth canopy over the bed.

The more she walks into her room she failed to notice the coach and table in front of the entry as a sit down area with fire place. As she further explores the area in front of the entry she seemed oblivious to when entering initially, she see’s that there is another doorway to the far left. The doorway is open but covered by a thin white curtain similar to that of the window. As much as she wants to charge forward and explore, she looks back at her guard before reaching to enter.

After receiving a firm nod, she pushes the curtain open and see’s that she has her own bathroom. She finds a tub, toilet, sink, and area that seem to heat up stones. Clarke catches herself blinking and rubbing her eyes several times before she can believe that this is actually in front of her. When she finally exits her bathroom she notices that her guard has already left and closed the door behind him.

At the new given privacy Clarke runs and leaps onto her new bed. As she collapses on the bed she is laughing to herself while looking at the ceiling. As she continues to stare into the top of her canopy she thinks of all of the events of the day and past twenty-four hours that have happened to her. She starts to get emotional when she thinks of home and that this is her possible new home.

When she starts to think about the ground her mind goes to the Princes Maia, how she is not sure where she stands with her yet but it seems to be going well. Clarke hopes she does not give her an impression to say otherwise and starts to think of all the emotions she is going through about her father. It has her thinking back to her father’s death and her emotions at the time. The more Clarke starts to think about it all she ends up exhausting herself out as she soundly falls asleep in her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took awhile as I had to write the next few chapters along after it to align up everything. These early chapters are crucial to how I set up the character interactions and history between characters so i spend the time to get it right. I am in school so luckily it is break and I have time on my hands to write. Hope the wait is worth it!...The next chapter will be posted very shortly. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and like the new characters I am bringing. Till next time. X


	5. Quietus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a long time to get through a road block but its here, sorry for the delay. I am not going to stick to saying the next chapter will be posted on _____ because that has not worked out in the past. It is probably my longest chapter so far and a good one I think. Enjoy, and hopefully next chapter soon!

Clarke slowly wakes up in her bed still on top of the covers as she left herself. The darkness of the room lets her become aware how late it must be in the night. Stretching her limbs from sleep, Clarke starts to get up and head over to the window. As she peaks out she see’s the night moon shining, the small lights fill the home of the people, and guards at their posts at the entry of the castle.

Clarke’s mind seems to follow right back to where she left off before falling asleep. The ark, her mother, her father, landing, the ground, the princess, and the King…Remembering the events from that morning Clarke starts to wonder how the Princess is handling everything. Clarke remembers being thrown into her cell shortly after her father was floated, to be left alone to grieve when all she wanted…all she needed was the comfort of another person to know she was not alone in this world.

Before she even realizes it, Clarke heads for the door of her room. As soon as she is about to exit, her guard stands in front of her at attention.

Before he gets to ask what she needs, Clarke already opened her mouth to ask “Can you take me to the Princess? I would like to speak with her.”

Her guard nods as he starts to lead her to the door next to hers. When the guard slows down to greet the guard posted at the door they clear the way for Clarke to approach the door. Hesitantly Clarke wonders if she can just go in or should knock first. She decides to go with the latter and knock.

“Enter” she hears from the room.

Given permission, Clarke opens the door and enters the Princesses room. As she enters she closes the door behind her to turn back around and look to the girl sitting on a coach cross-legged looking at the fireplace in front of her. After a brief moment the Princess looks up to see who has entered and realizes it is Clarke.

“Skaigirl…to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Clarke opens her mouth to respond but closes it as she starts to bit her lip.

“I just-I just wanted to see if you were okay…I know this morning was rough” she manages to get out.

To Clarke’s surprise the Princess looks at Clarke with a shocked expression, assuming that was the last thing she expected Clarke to say.

After a brief moment, the Princess lets out a light chuckle now surprising Clarke.

“You are nothing like I have expected Skaigirl haha…for all I know you could have been hear to try and attack me but here you are checking on my emotions instead. You are a very interesting person Clarke…I will be fine…eventually…”

Clarke looks back and gives her a small smile. At this Clarke starts to take in the Princesses room, seeing how similar yet bigger it is in comparison to hers but also very open with small trinkets around different desks shelf’s. She also notices the bed and the similar posts it holds except for the intricate engravings on the posts and the curtain that are draped down on the sides as the wind from the open doors blow them from the night.

“How are you enjoying your room?” says the Princess drawing Clarke’s wandering thoughts back to attention.

Clarke faces the Princess again smiling as she remembers her room “It is more than anything I ever had on the ark, its very beautiful and vibrant. Thank you.”

The Princess nods as she stands to get up and approach Clarke.

“I am glad it meets your liking…I am going to retire for the night. Goodnight Clarke.”

Taking the dismissal, Clarke says “Goodnight Maia.”

With that Clarke makes her way out of the door and the Princess makes her way further into her room to get ready for bed.

As Clarke makes her way out following her guard back to her room, Clarke looks back at the door of the Princesses door with her guard to realize just how close their rooms are to one another. As much as it feels like an honor, it also makes her question a familiar statement she has heard when growing up.

_Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…_

As Clarke enters her room once again, she starts to wonder if that might be true in her situation. However she knows the Princess has nothing to fear from her, and eventually she will see it…hopefully. Before she knows it she is in her bed finally trying to get the under the covers but falling asleep before managing.

Day Three

Maia

The morning starts to peer in through the floor to ceiling windows by the Princesses bed. As the morning sunlight starts to land on her face the Princess rolls over, pulling whatever furs she can up over her face.

After catching a few more minutes of sleep she hears the sound of a knock on her door. As per her morning routine, the Princess grunts her permission to enter her room.

The maiden enters with a small tray of breakfast to place on the table in the middle of the room. Before leaving she picks ups any discarded clothes and trays left from the night before heading back out of the room closing the door not so gently.

Taking the loud exit as her sign to get up, the Princess grumpily gets up rubbing the sleep off of her eyes. Thankful the maiden opted out for the pail of water to wake her up, she goes to the bathroom to relieve herself and try to throw water on her sleep filled face. As she is washing her face, she looks at herself in the mirror and see’s the puffiness of her eyes from the events of yesterday. Not wanting a reminder she heads to find her clothes for training and throwing her hair up not wanting to deal with it.

As she gets to the tray the maiden brought in for her pre training meal. She gulps down some water grabbing the fruits and small bread roll to munch down before leaving her room.

As she heads out of her room making her way down to head out for the stables. As she is making her way down the south side exit of the castle, the Princess starts to think of Keon and how he will probably be waiting for her. Still not wanting to deal with him the Princess starts to debate about running to training instead. Realizing how much she despises running, she scoffs and heads to the stables. Once the horses come into clear view, Maia see’s one of the stable doors open and empty as she peers inside. Knowing that is where Keon’s horse is, she assumes he is already at the training grounds. Perfect.

Taking this new information into account, she finds her horse and starts to take her time, glad to waste time keeping Keon waiting. After her horse starts to nudge her out of the stables, she takes the hint and saddles her horse trotting out to head to the castle gates.

Making her way to the gates she see’s the gatekeeper approach her horse, to which she never minds.

Gunter taking a bow, “Princess, good morning. Off to training are you? Keon passed through a while ago.”

Maia, trying to hide her grin, “Good, then he should be still waiting for me.”

Taking the hint, Gunter starts to laugh. “Well at least we are given another beautiful morning…no people falling from the sky but still.” As he raises his head to look up at the sky and bask in the sun.

Getting a smile from the Princess “Yes, it is a beautiful day. You always seem to point that out.” The Princess teases as she tries to reach part of her apple to her horse to chomp on.

“We have to appreciate days like these, for when we might not wake up to see another one.”

The Princess freezes at his words but tries to play it off as if she did not notice but nodding at him.

Gunter wanting to ask a specific question waits to ask, “How is our King these days? I have not seen him leave the tower lately.”

Fumbling with the reins the Princess tries to keep her stoic mask in place. “He has been quite busy as of late. Dealing with Azgeda negotiations, the festival, the delegates…he is a very busy man.”

Gunter taking the answer he is given “Very well, have a good training this morning Princess.”

The Princess nods and kicks her horse into drive as she heads out to the training grounds.

As the training grounds come into sight, she see’s Keon’s horse tied to the post and Keon sitting on a log concentrating on carving something into his staff.

Surprised to not see him out warming up, the Princess starts to go into her warm up by heading off in a run around the grounds.

As she approaches on her last leg of her lap, she barely see’s Keon come attacking her from her side with his staff.

Surprised, she swerves away from the blows avoiding them as she tries to look around for any weapon to defend with. Seeing her staff only a few feet away she slowly tries to make her way while ducking, blocking, and getting gazed by Keon’s relentless attacks.

Finally feeling her foot hit the side of the staff, she maneuvers her foot to kick up the staff so she can still use her hands. Staff finally in her grasp she parries his attacks with more ease now, yet this only makes Keon go harder on her.

Now he is barely giving her time to catch the blows to parry before he lands one hard on her side.

Looking back at Keon with a new fire in each other’s eyes she yells out as she charges at him, changing from defense to offense, just spinning and attacking him with countless blows wanting to now not protect herself but hurt him back.

She manages to land a blow to his face making his head turn to one side as his face starts to bleed from a cut on his cheek.

He wipes it and looks back at Maia before throwing his staff on the ground away from them as he puts his hands up in a ready position for hand to hand combat.

Maia follows suit and they run at each other throwing arms and blows to only be blocked by one another. At this point the pace is unlike anything they have done in training before it is just pure rage with the intention of hurting the other at this point.

They both land a few more hits on one another until Keon manages to grab Maia from behind, grabbing her arms crossed in front of her as he squeezes her hard in an embrace yet defensive stance.

Maia resisting against his hold, he yells “Stop!”

After some time she finally stops as her winded breathing comes back in to her memory from their fight. Neither of them says a word, as Keon waits for her to speak.

Maia breaking the silence, “I was going to inform him…you might be my trainer, but that was not your job…you overstepped.” At this she starts to struggle again only leaving Keon’s grip to tighten against the struggling girl.

“Overstep? That is exactly my job…you may be the Princess but he is the King. My loyalty is to both of you, but my duty is to that of the King. You’re not Queen yet…if you keep acting like a child Maia, you will fail in your fathers training… and mine.”

To this Maia scoffs as she tries again to break his hold, to no avail. Keon continues forward “What if you were in his position? Would you want to know? Need to know? As much as I am here to train your body, I am here to train your mind. Your anger toward me reflected in your attacks, and look where you are now.”

Maia huffs again as she struggle but without as much fight.

“If you jus-“

With that Maia is able to grab his wrist and bend it back to pull him under her and for her to able to flip him on his stomach and pull his head up revealing his throat.

“You were saying?”

Keon actually scoffs to her surprise but pushes her off as he gets up with a smirk.

They both sport smirks toward one another as they wipe of blood and sweat off of their faces.

“Satisfied?” he asks.

Maia nods at him while catching her breath.

“Good, now run a few more laps to cool down before we start the lesson.”

With that Maia rolls her eyes running off muttering “blockhead.”

“I can still hear you Maia…”

With that Maia picks up the pace laughing away.

Keon smiled at that. He knows how hard he is on her but knowing how soon it will be before she is Queen, he must say he will be very proud to serve her. But she does not need to know that…not yet. Regaining his focus he starts to set up their next training exercise.

Clarke

Waking up to the sound of knocking on her door, Clarke shoot-ups in bed to only find herself feeling cold. When she looks down as to why, she finds herself above the sheets…once again.

Trying to figure out why in the world she cannot manage to get under them, she hears another knock reminding her what woke her up in the first place and leaving that mystery to be solved for another time.

Making her way to her door, she opens it slightly to reveal another guard at her door.

“Good morn-”

“I am to take you to breakfast.”

Clarke startled by the interruption, says “Okay…I just have to change first…I will be ready in a few minutes…is that okay?”

The guard nods at her while her guard beside him, unimpressed, looks at her and nods as he goes back to standing at his post.

Clarke closes the door and turns back into her room replaying the last moment in her head. Trying to figure out what her guards deal is she shakes her thoughts away as her stomach rumbles taking the clue to get changed.

After a few short moments, Clarke is ready and opens her door to find her guard and the other ready to take her.

As they make their way down the hall, Clarke sizes up her guard trying to figure out how to make him break and talk outside of giving orders. She wonders if they could maybe even be friends one day, but her almost goal is to get a smile or laugh out of him.

Clarke thinks of an idea and stops walking.

Her guard noticing the absence of her loud foot steps stops and turns around. He looks at her questioningly since nothing appears to be wrong.

“We have not been properly introduced, my name is Clarke.” With that Clarke sticks her hand out for a handshake waiting for him to reply.

The guard takes one step forward, having Clarke sport a smile to only stop short by her hand. He looks down at it and back at Clarke.

Clarke realizing he is either not familiar with the greeting nor wants to engage in it, assuming it is both she lowers her hand in defeat and just walks back up to the guard to continue on down to breakfast.

They finally make their way in the dining hall to see a place setting for one.

Clark having assumed she would be joining others or at least Maia for breakfast she looks back to her guard.

Sensing the question in the Clarke’s head he motions with his hand for her to sit at the seat.

Clarke taking the note sits down and starts to marvel at the spread of different foods around her. She starts to dig into the spread, trying bits of everything around her and taking in all of the new flavors bursting in her mouth. Realizing the faces and sounds she is making she tries to collect herself as she starts to spread jam on her toast.

As she finishes her meal she relaxes back into the chair feeling full of food not wanting to get up. The handmaiden sensing she is finished starts to clear the table of the left over food.

Once the table was finished clearing, the guard drops a bag on the table.

Grabbing Clarke’s attention she looks at the bag to only look back at the guard with a questioning stare. The guard just motions his hand toward the bag again so Clarke reaches for it pulling it closer to her.

When she pulls the bag to her, a side that was hidden from her sight shows a logo she is all too familiar with, The Ark.

Realizing where the bag came from and whom, she quickly opens the bag to see what is inside. She finds a few clothing items similar to what she landed in, some medical supplies, and a map. Deciding she will further go through her given materials later, she only lightly looks at what was inside the pack.

“Thank you.”

Zander nods at her before a knock is heard on the door to which he goes to address. Seeing it is another guard they have a quick conversation before her guard comes back.

“The Princess has matters to deal with this morning, but informs me you are to start working with our healer today. When you are ready Skaigirl.”

Clarke half chokes on her water when he starts speaking but starts to put everything back in the pack and gets on her feet ready to leave.

“So he speaks…” Clarke mutters as she passes her guard to which she surprisingly hears a scoff. Clarke whips around at the sound to catch a slight smirk on her guard’s face, which she returns instantaneously.

Her guard loses the smirk soon enough and continues to escort Clarke to the healers.

They make their way just outside of the healer’s home to see the healer by his home working with some of the plants collecting leaves. Sensing the approaching figures he turns to face his visitors with a smile on his face.

“Morning… Ready to learn our ways Skaigirl?”

“Good morning, you may call me Clarke” as she goes to greet the healer.

“Clarke it shall be then” the healer says smiling and looking down confused at her hand greeting.

Clarke retreating her hand again that day makes a mental note that they do not share the same greetings. “What may I call you?...Healer?...”

“I go by many names, but you may call me by my name Rhys.”

Clarke smiles at his humor “Rhys it shall be.”

The healer returns the smile before remembering their task for the day, “Clarke, lets head inside so I may show you what to do with these leaves.”

Clarke looks back at Zander to which he nods as she waves at him goodbye. She turns back to follow the healer into his home.

When they enter Clarke has her memories of her waking up in here after she landed and meeting the healer and Maia for the first time.

Noticing the Skaigirl’s attention being lost in looking around the room the healer lets our a light cough to regain her attention to his table. Clarke makes her way over as he puts out different jars and a bowl with a muddler.

Realizing what they are going to do with the leaves she lets her inner thoughts be heard “This is how you make your medicine…”

The healer smiles and looks at Clarke “Yes it is…certain leaves for certain ailments, however it is important to know the specifics of the leaf you are looking for. Many look alike, and sometimes can have the opposite desired effect. Today I want to go through the more common needed ailments and leaves. Eventually we will go through the ones that are harder to find, and ones used to cure different poisons.”

“Poisons?” Clarke asks with a shocked expression.

Seeing the pained expression on the girls face, the healer could only smile at her innocence and hope that wherever she came from in the sky that she wouldn’t have to experience the dangers of the ground. Sighing, he finally lets out “There are many clans that use poison on their weapons for battle. Most have the intent to kill…and do. At least if I cannot get to them first.”

Clarke lets the silence play out as she takes in this his words. She knows there will be a switch from being in the sky to on the ground but she still has so much to learn.

“Now they have to get past us both.” Clarke says shyly smiling at the healer.

The healer looks from his hands right back up to Clarke after her words, holding a big grin. Clarke returns the smiling beaming at him.

“We better start then…here we have th-…” for the next two hours they spend observing the different leaves and flowers and grinding up herbs to place in the vials for their antidotes, poisons, and healing salves.

After their medicinal lesson, they start to go out to make house calls to the neighboring houses. Mostly scrapes and minor injuries that are needed to set as the healer and Clarke work together hands on to address their patients.

As they head back to the healers house once they have finished their visits for the day, they hear the rushing footfalls of a young man with dust and dirt covering his face and arms running towards their direction.

Immediately at their attention grabbed, he yells “Healer we need you! One of the houses has collapsed. There is a man trapped but he is hurt…you must hurry! This way!”

The healer and Clarke run with the young man to the area the house collapsed, seeing already a group of other people getting the rubble off of the man. They help lift the big chunks of rock off of him till they have better access to him to check his condition.

He must feel the hands checking his pulse and his body for any breaks since he wakes up mumbling words.

Clarke goes closer to where his head is to make sense of his words to only catch “My Child...she is still there…” before his eyes start to close.

As soon as she hears the words she darts off to the site yelling out “His daughter is still inside…Help me!”

A few of the locals follow Clarke’s lead taking out rocks from the rubble looking for any signs of the child. As they pull off one of the rocks they find a small hand from the rubble and start to dig and pull her out.

Doing a quick examination on the unconscious child, Clarke finds a pulse but it is barely there. Rhys is right beside her checking for the pulse elsewhere to come to the same conclusion.

“Something is wrong.”

Clarke starts to check the girl’s eyes but they are equal and responsive. She moves onto lifting the girl’s shirt to see if she was bleeding internally but no discoloration or swelling was present. That’s when she notices the girl’s arms to appear bigger and swollen and unproportional to her body.

“Someone get me alcohol!” Clarke shouts.

The healer looks at Clarke with a question in her eyes. His eyes follow her movements as she starts to wipe the girls arms and clean her own hands.

“I need a blade or a knife…” to which the healer touches her hand to pause her movements.

Sensing his confusion, she tries to explain, “Her blood is pooling into her arms, I need to get some out to relieve the pressure. It’s not letting her blood get to the rest of her body. We are going to lose her if I do not do this.” Clarke says with desperation in her eyes.

“I can save her. This is the only way…please. Let me save her.”

The healer looks once more at the young child and then back at Clarke before giving her a nod and a blade.

“I need you to follow my cuts on the other arm. We need to go at the same time.” To which the healer nods once again and focuses on her movement as she starts to cut.

They run the blade down the girls arm, letting the pooled blood be released. As they are at the end of their cuts the girl starts to open her eyes to which Clarke gently holds the girls face in her hands smiling at her

“Hi there…my name is Clarke. You were trapped under the rubble but you are fine now. The healer is just cleaning up and wrapping your arms.” she says with her smile still glued on as she distracts the child from looking at the blood on the ground next to her.

“Your father is okay too, he is just asleep but he will wake up soon and will want to see you. We are going to have you both back to the healers to seal your wounds. We don’t want them to get infected do we?” As the girl nods a no to Clarke, only making Clarke smile wider as she says “Good girl,” To which the little girl smiles back.

Seeing Rhys has finished bandaging her arms for now Clarke scoops up the girl in her arms and follows the group of men carrying the little girls father to the healers as she whispers to the little girl making her smile and comforting her.

After they get inside, Rhys gives the girl a vial to drink that makes her fall asleep to make it easier for them to clean her up and tend to her wounds better.

The healer, heating up a blade, starts to say, “She will have big scars to remind her of this day…so young.”

Clarke not understanding what he means starts to realize what he wants to do with the heated blade. “There is another way to close her cuts. We can stitch them.”

Clarke then goes on to explain how they stitch wounds, the materials used, and higher chance of way less scarring. The healer sends a guard to go to a local sewing merchant and purchase needles and new silk string. Once the guard comes back, Clarke starts to show him how to stitch as they unwrap her arms and get started.

“It was a clean cut, most likely will not see a scar once it heals.” Clarke says as they start to apply a salve to the finished stitches to prevent infection.

The healer looks at Clarke as she is wiping the dust off of the face of the girl and pushing her hair strands from the girls face.

Clarke noticing the healer looking at her, “What?”

He shines a smile before saying “I think we are going to have a lot to learn from one another.”

Clarke laughed returning the smile “Yes, we are.” As they go further into discussion about procedures and medical tactics over lunch.

The sun is just starting to set as Clarke makes her way into her room stripping the day away as she gets ready for a bath and dinner later with the princess.

As she fills her tub with water she carefully starts to check on her own wounds and make sure they are closed before sitting in the tub.

Fast forward to Clarke brushing her freshly washed hair as she hears a knock at her door.

“Come in.”

To no surprise it is her guard Zander ready to guide her to dinner.

They eventually make their way down to the dining hall, seeing that the princess is already there waiting for her.

Clarke seeing the princess has not touched her plate to wait for her, she starts to regret the long time it took for her bath and to get ready. “I hope I did not keep you waiting.”

The princess tilts her chin to only say “Not at all, I only just arrived as well. Please sit.”

They start to dig into dinner, with Clarke’s mouth enjoying the new flavor pallets from the past few days since landing.

The princess notices Clarke yawn a few times since entering, taking note she must have had a long day. That reminds her of a conversation she had that day.

“I heard you saved a girl and her father today. Eventful day?” The princess lets out as they near the end of their plates.

Clarke looks up from her plate to only play that morning’s events, “hmm…I am just glad I could have helped.”

“Helped? From what I hear, if you were not there her spirit would have moved on” the princess inquired.

Clarke pauses her movements on the plate before saying “I just think it is scary to know what would have happened if I never landed here.”

The princess starts to look off in the distance as she hums in agreement.

“Hopefully I get to have more impact with my knowledge and Rhys’ combined. We spent lunch and the rest of the day sharing information” Clarke says not wanting the silence to carry out longer.

The princess smiled before saying “The girl and her father are reunited and send their thanks to the girl who fell from the sky.”

To which Clarke smiles back as they continue their dinner.

After dinner was over they both retired to their rooms. Clarke finds in her room paper and writing materials, giving her an idea to take the opportunity to sketch before bed.

She sets up a chair looking out into the night through her window to sketch the outside. She carries on until her eyelids are too heavy to stay open to which she climbs onto her bed and falls asleep.

Day 4

Clarke gets up early before the sun has fully risen and takes the opportunity to continue her sketches. Before she realizes what she is going to draw next, it is her dad. As she draws and looks at his half drawn profile, it makes her think about what her new life is here on the ground. How many different possibilities of what would happen when her mother told her what was going to happen, and how her current reality makes her that much more grateful and thankful. Her situation could have been so much worse, how much worse the princess and her people could be towards her, an outsider.

The more Clarke starts to think about her early days here, she starts to realize she has not thanked the princess well enough. The princess has done a lot for her including providing her with a room this grand and supplies to draw with…That’s when Clarke looks back at the drawing of her father and realizes how she can thank and try to repay her.

Clarke gathers the supplies she needs from her room and head to her door in search of her guard. As she opens the door, Zander stands in front of her at her attention.

“I want to see the King.”

Before Zander can question her intentions behind her request and her supplies Clarke cuts his thoughts off “I want to gift the Princess with a drawing of her father as a thank you for her hospitality…”

Zander looks at the Skaigirl once more as he debates whether or not it is a good idea.

“Please?..You can post as many guards as you want. I just want to draw him, I wont be long.”

Eventually with the addition of 4 new guards, they make their way over to the King’s room.

As they enter, one of the guards brings over a chair for Clarke to sit as she approaches the King’s resting area.

As she comes into the view of the King, her guard Zander approaches the King first to explain why she is here. He nods in understanding as Clarke gets to work. Sensing his further weakened state she tries to draw him as alive as she can.

After an hour has passed Clarke is finished with her sketch and starts to gather her supplies. The King upon hearing this picks his hand up to ask for hers. Clarke looks over to her guard about whether or not she is allowed to approach to which he nods.

Clarke puts her hand in his as he brings his other hand on top of hers.

“How much you have grown into a beautiful young woman…Ara, you have your mothers beauty.”

Clarke smiles and gives his hands a squeeze as her hand is released, allowing her to clear the room.

As she makes her way back to room, Clarke starts to wonder who Ara is, but assumes it is just a mistake. Making her way back into her room she sets aside the sketch to only realize the time as she runs out to leave for breakfast she is very late for.

Clarke joins the princess for breakfast late apologizing as soon as she entered the dining hall, explaining to the princess she lost track of time.

To which the princess responded, “I hope this will not become a pattern of yours. Lucky for you, the food is still warm.”

After Clarke gets a few bites of food in her, the princess picks up the conversation by asking Clarke about how she is taking to Lumbus. Eventually the conversation leads to Clarke being given some history of the place and the other territories and clans around.

“So there are 12 different clans in total? And they are all in the coalition?” Clarke asks after being given a history lesson by the princess.

“In the coalition there are 12 participating clans, however once you go across seas and further out you can encounter other clans or villages that are not affiliated that we sometimes trade with as a coalition for goods that can not be grown here but that is all. They do not participate in war nor do we in theirs.”

Clarke taking in all of this new information, she starts to realize just how many people must have survived the radiation outside of this town alone. “Is your father in charge of the coalition? I mean he is the King.”

“My father is the King of his clan of The Lake People, the one in charge of the coalition however is the commander. The commander created the coalition actually… before that, peace was hard to come by…not all of the territories get along with one another.”

“How was the commander able to get the clans together?” Clarke wondered.

“By sheer will…and hope for a better future for the people. All of them… No matter the sacrifices.”

They continue the conversation with Clarke telling the Princess about how The Ark was originally 12 stations that combined. There were a lot of similarities between that and the coalition, to which they further discussed the commander. As inspirational as the commander sounded, it only made Clarke wonder whether or not she will have to face this commander and whether or not her stay is welcomed.

As breakfast finished and the day carried on, the princess headed down to her fathers room to visit him.

After leaving her fathers room, the princess kept replaying her father’s words to her.

_“…I saw her today Maia…”_

_The princess’s eyes leave her hands holding her father to look up at him smiling in the corner of her mouth at him. “Yo-…you saw mother?..”_

_The king shakes his head. “No…I saw Ara…”_

_The princess opens her mouth to just close it and turn her head in disbelief. “Father…”_

_“It was her Maia…She came to visit me…I never thought I would see her again…”_

_Feeling worried about her father’s visit, the princess just smiles back at her father saying, “Okay father…I have to go. I’ll be back later in the day, you should rest for now.” Placing a kiss to his forehead she makes her way out of his room.”_

As the past few moments flash through her head the Princess makes her way to the healer’s home to find Clarke.

Clarke and Rhys have been going over the different types of stitches on different peeled fruits as the princess enters the home.

Sensing someone had entered, they both get up from the table.

“Hello Pr-…” Rhys manages to get out before being interrupted.

“I need to speak with Clarke…Alone.”

Clarke swallowing louder than normal watches as Rhys leaves out the door leaving her and the princess alone. The Princess paces as she nears Clarke.

“Maia…is everything okay?”

“I am not sure…” she says sighing as she finally stops pacing to lean against the wall and cross her arms over her chest. Her head looking down at her boots rubbing into the floor.

“I was just visiting my father…I think he is hallucinating…He mentioned seeing someone…it can’t be them, its impossible.”

“Oh.” Clarke says as she starts to realize what that means.

“You said he will only get worse…he is already having more pain than usual…I am-…” the princess taking a moment to collect herself, “I am here to ask if this is the end.”

With the end of that sentence the princess refuses to look anywhere else but Clarke in the eyes.

“It seems like it…Yes…”

Surprising Clarke, the princess did not look away or have her emotions show more than her body language as her shoulders drooped down lower than usual.

“You said you could make him comfortable…Will you hold true to your word?”

Clarke opens her mouth to close it. “Yes, I will. But I will have to see him first before I agree to do anything.”

To that the princess pushes her body off the wall to nod at Clarke.

“Then we leave now.”

Clarke nods as she looks around the room for supplies she might need. Going through the shelves she finds what she is looking for in a small vile.

Once they have arrived back to the King’s room they gather around his bed as Clarke starts to conduct her examination. Even though Clarke had been to draw him earlier that day, she is surprised to see he does not look in the same condition but only worse.

Clarke starts to scan over the King’s deteriorating fragile features, and looks over to see the different pain management medicines by the bed. Yet when she looks at the sleeping King, even in sleep you can see he is not given a break from the pain. Knowing that the pain he is already in will only get worse, has Clarke make a decision.

“I think it is time…The pain he is in will only get worse to the point where it will be unbearable. Unbearable enough that the day or two he has left is not worth living in pain.” She whispers out to the princess.

The princess moves from her position beside Clarke to the other side of the bed as she prepares herself for her last moment with her father. She takes his hand gently waking him from his half slumber. The pain on his face evident, he seems to be already looking off onto the other side where he can be in peace. He barely acknowledges his daughters presence, until she brings a hand to the side of his face to guide him to her.

The moment he makes eye contact with her, he see’s her and tries to lighten up in his face but his body does not allow him but can still see the flicker of light and life in his eyes. The princess leans into the side of his face, whispering their last conversation as his eye lets out one tear and leans his head onto hers. He whispers a few words back to her to which she nods back but the conversation is only heard for the other one.

Clarke watches on as she debates whether or not she should back away to give them more privacy. As she watches on, her legs become unable to move. She gets flashbacks of her last moments with her father and how much that last ‘I love you’ meant everything but nothing prepares for having to see someone you have known all of your life to now live in another world than yours.

Clarke curses her body for betraying her as she feels tears fall down her cheek. Before she knows it, the princess pulls away slightly from her father to give him one last kiss on his head as she sits back up right on the other side of the bed. Suspecting Clarke might need her to let go of his hand to perform her task she gently places his hand back on the bed pausing when Clarke’s voice breaks the silence.

“Don’t…You can hold his hand…You should…”

As the princess looks up at Clarke she notices the wet trails of her tears on her cheeks. The princess grasps her father’s hand in hers once again.

Clarke takes out one the vial she brought from the healers but instead of having the King drink its contents, she takes out a syringe that was left in the bag her mother packed her.

The syringe is empty, as she fills it with the vials liquid. The vial, according to Rhys, is an old mercy drink for warriors on the battlefield that have injuries too far to heal. Instead of them suffering till their last breathe, they are given this vial to drink to bring them to the other side quicker and subdue their pain and opportunities to be inflected further pain. Even though it is considered a poison, it is the only merciful of them all.

Clarke takes the Kings arm and rolls up the sleeve of his shirt to expose the anterior side of his elbow. Once exposed she picks up the syringe, she looks over at the princess for one last confirmation of her wish for her to continue.

The princess nods her confirmation and Clarke takes her syringe and injects the contents into the King.

Once she is finished she feels fresh tears fall down her cheeks once again, making her question if they ever stopped. As she pulls out he syringe she rolls back down the King’s sleeve as she hold his other hand to check his pulse. After a minute, he lets out one last shaky breath leaving a silence greater than before in the room. Clarke checks his pulse once more, as it is no longer weak but finally still.

Clarke lets go of his hand to wipe her face with the sleeve on her arm as she shakily tells the princess “Now he is at peace.”

The princess, still holding onto her father’s hand, seems frozen with a stare on his face not moving. The shuffle of the guards bowing in the King’s direction causes Clarke to turn around and look. One of the guards, assuming he was the King’s personal guard, walk up to the princess, he says “Queen” as he bows once again to her. The princess remains looking forward as the guard backs away and the rest of the guards return to standing up in their natural stature.

Clarke decides to pack up her stuff and leave them with a moment of privacy with Zander following her lead. Knowing her way back to her room already she remembers one last thing she has to do and now seems like the perfect time.

As Clarke enters the room, Zander goes to close the door to which Clarke tells him to wait. She goes to her desk to take the rolled up drawing tied with a piece of string she found her room. She brings it to Zander to which he looks at her nodding, already knowing what she wants to ask him to do.

As Maia eventually makes her way back to her room, she feels numb as she replays the past hour and idea that she is now in a place living where her father no longer does.

As she settles in her room, she notices a rolled up parchment on her table. Not remembering putting it there, she wonders who had left it. Curious, yet welcoming a distraction, she approaches the parchment to unroll it. Expecting to be a letter she lets out a gasp as she is revealed what it holds.

And at that moment she breaks.

Her control.

Her emotions.

Her heart.

She finally lets out a cry she was unable to earlier, in the privacy of her own room.

Fast forward a few hours as the sun starts to flirt with idea of meeting land, Maia goes to pay a visit to Clarke.

Clarke is relaxing at the balcony, watching the outside world as the candles starts to burn and outside gets quiet when she hears a knock on her door.

After granting entrance, Clarke turns around to her surprise seeing Maia.

“Hi…I was not expecting you…”

“I received your gift…I came to thank you. It is beautiful, you’re very talented.”

Clarke senses Maia’s battle of controlling her emotions to which she tries to bring her humor. “How did you know it was from me?..Could have been anyone…” to which she smiles mischievously.

Maia, to Clarke’s surprise, seems to be confused at her assumption. “We do not have anyone of your talents, yours is the first I have seen…after the first commander helped our people to rebuild, every person was needed to achieve that. If there was anyone with your talents, they never got the chance to pursue it, let alone teach it to other generations.”

“Oh…well in that case I guess my gift was the opposite of inconspicuous…” to which Clarke starts to chew on the inside of her mouth.

This causes Maia to smile and let out a soft laugh. “Quite evident…none the less, you were able to keep a part…a part of him with me here. And to that…to that I will never be able to repay you.” As she finishes getting through her words, Maia once again starts to lose control of her emotions. Surprising herself that her body could let out more tears and not run out.

As Maia wipes her cheeks from the trace of her tears, she hears shuffling to only see Clarke in front of her.

“Come here” she says with her hands opening up.

Maia looks at her in confusion as to what she means.

“I am trying to give you a hug, but that involves you coming over here…It is something my people do to comfort others.”

Maia laughs to only approach Clarke’s hug hesitantly as she amusingly through her tears informs Clarke “I am aware of what a hug is Clarke…”

To which Clarke laughs only giving back a firm squeeze before letting go.

They settle onto the chairs in Clarke’s room as she explains to Maia her adventures of trying to get Zander to laugh and how she managed to convince him to let her draw the King.

“I wonder if Zander knows how to hug…” to which Maia laughs once again.

“I cannot say I have seen it happen. But good luck with that one, he is a skilled warrior, he might have missed that lesson.”

Clarke felt her stomach start to become sore from the past hour of laughter with Maia. Which ended up reminding her of a question she has meant to ask her.

“Something…rather someone came up when I went to draw your father…he called me Ara…who is that?”

As soon as Clarke had said the name, Maia has frozen as what seemed like realization and a flood of memories through her head.

Sensing it might have been too early to ask something like that Clarke immediately started to try and retract her question. “I am sorry, that is none of my business. I should not have asked…”

To which Maia just shook her head. “When I went to see him after breakfast, he told me she came to visit him…but I knew that was impossible, that is when I started to get worried about him. But it was you…makes more sense now.”

“Why is it impossible?” Clarke wondered.

“She is dead Clarke.”

To which Clarke only felt even more stupid to not realize that possibility.

“Who was she?”

Before answering Clarke’s question, Maia took a deep breathe. “My mother’s spirit passed when she gave birth to my younger sister. However, as her spirit left, my sister’s never landed. Her name was Ara.”

“She was stillborn…” Clarke whispers out.

Maia nods before resuming “But even though her spirit never landed, her body did and she had hair like yours, but not as bright. Perhaps that is why he thought you were her.”

Maia continues on “After Ara and my mother were burned on the pyres, my father told me of a legend of the Lake people where after the death of the queen and her child, the child’s spirit will be fall back from the sky…the legend never specified the queen was my mother but as a child I always wondered when the sky would fall…And then you fell…”

Clarke follows the story intently as Maia carries on, “You were unknown, many advised me that you were dangerous. A threat. But my father…my father told me to trust my instincts and I knew you were not. It was not until I had spent more time with you, observed you and your spirit, that I remembered the legend. And I cannot help but feel…but feel it is coming true. You may not be Ara…but I feel like a part of her came down with you or brought you to land in my lands…right by where I was training.”

Clarke lets out a breath she did not know she was holding as she lets out “Wow…”

Clarke watches Maia as she realizes how much she has just told her about herself and life and the trust she must have in Clarke. Finally, Clarke feels like she can breathe. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer does not apply as she thought earlier. She trusts her.

“I never had a sister before…in The Ark it was forbidden for a couple to have more than one child…but from the moment I landed and was are of my surroundings and that I was alive on the ground…I was terrified…so many people around me that I did not know, or even know existed. Yet when you came in, you did not feel like a stranger…it felt as if I knew or remembered you and it made me feel safe…I think that was because I was meant to come here…I think that was Ara…My mother might have put me in the pod, but Ara sent me to you. For the both of us…”

Maia watched Clarke as she spoke and understood exactly what she meant because she felt the same thing.

“So does this make us unofficial sisters or something?” Clarke asked with her lip turned up at the corner of her mouth.

Maia only laughed at the question “Something like that…I am sure.”

Clarke returned the laugh as they finished their night with Maia returning to her room. As she settled into her room she took the drawing Clarke made of her father and leaned it against a candle on the small table by her bed so she could have her father next to her.

Day 5

Maia’s morning starts before dawn as a knock sounds on her door to which she does not appreciate. She knew there were many preparations for her father and the festival in a few days time to deal with. However given the fact her father just passed, she would assume she would get to choose the time at which she could wake the next morning.

As her guard enters he informs her “Princess Maia, there is an urgent message sent for you.”

To this, Maia remembers the commander and shoots up out of bed to take the message out of her guard’s hand as she impatiently starts to open it.

_Princess Maia,_

_Change of plans. I will be entering shortly after you receive this message with one of my warriors. Under no circumstance is anyone to know my true identity. Only when we are in private I am heda, and only then until you are told otherwise._

_-Heda_

So much has changed since the first letter she had sent to the commander. Realizing the commander probably still thinks Clarke is being held in confinement, she wonders what her reaction might be.

As the princess thinks about the change of plans she wonders how the commander is planning on concealing her identity from the people…and what does that have to do with Clarke…

Thinking of all the progress she has made with Clarke and how Clarke has made her stamp here with her people already. The more she thinks about the situation, she starts to feel protective of what the commanders plans are as she has he

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it?!..Did you like it?..Let me know! I'm still getting used to writing like this so feel free to share ideas and comment below because stats are stats but I want to know if people are enjoying the story. If you have nothing nice to say then keep it to yourself and find another fic. There are plenty to choose from ;)
> 
> P.S I am terrible with tagging this fic so any suggestions as the chapters progress and you see more things play out would be super helpful


	6. Heda Arrives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when the commander finally arrives?...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heda finally arrives! Hope everyone enjoys my little twist about her arrival, just a heads up this chapter is not as long as my previous chapters. I have had up to this point written a week after my last update but instead of me waiting to finish all the points I wanted in the chapter I am posting this much so far because if I waited the wait would be too long. The next few chapters might be more so on this length possibly slightly more just to get more content out until I finally graduate from college! So close only a month and a half away! Then I will be back on my long chapters with frequent updates. Okay enough with this now go enjoy the chapter!

Pushing her concerns away about Heda’s arrival, the Princess makes her way around the palace to attend several meetings and discuss funeral plans following the King’s death.

After a lonely breakfast, Clarke is chewing on an apple as she makes her way down to her day with the town healer Rhys. As she leaves the castle with Zander in toe, a group of guard’s making their way in the distance to the healers with what seems as two injured figures with them.

Realizing the direction they are heading Clarke starts to pick up the pace of her walk with Zander jogging beside her to get there.

Clarke finally makes her way to the healer’s house rushing in while Zander stayed outside to speak with the guards that brought them in.

The Commander see’s the door open and a woman rush into the formerly meek room now brighter…unsure whether it is brighter due to the sun still rising or the bright blonde haired woman that just entered.

As Clarke enters she catches sight of the first injured woman closest to her with dark and light streaked hair with her dark tanned skin she see’s the blood, cuts, bruises formed on the woman’s body.

“Hi my name is Clarke, let me help you up the ex-” to which Anya swats her hands away from helping her up onto the table.

“Okay then…I guess you can just do it yourself…” Clarke continued more to herself as the woman slid her body sitting up onto the exam table without much of a struggle.

“I’m a warrior, I can make it up myself…do not insult me…Clarke.” Anya spits out.

“Good news…your injuries are mostly superficial and minor, need to stitch your thigh cut…but lucky for me, your personality did not take a hit”

As Anya threw her an annoyed look, a chuckle was heard from the other side of the room to which Clarke looks over connecting eyes with the other injured woman, throwing a wink her way as she smiles at her own joke.

Looking back towards the first woman, she tries conversation again as she finally asks “What happened to you two?” as she gets checks for anymore cuts she may have missed.

“Our camp was attacked last night.” The second woman says, to which Clarke heads her way as Rhys gets started on the first woman’s wounds cleaning.

As Clarke gets close to the second woman, she notices first how young she is and more close to her own age. Her brown hair partly braided pulling her hair away from her face to reveal the strong bone structure her face holds along with a slightly swollen jaw.

The Commander just stands there as she awaits a response from the healer to only have her staring intently at her face. Swallowing harder than she can remember, the woman puts her hands onto her face slowly leaning closer to her only making her heart start to pound in her ears.

Clarke breaks from her concentration by saying “You have a fever…I’m sorry, you are?”

Shaking herself from the moment she lets out “Lexa.”

“Lexa, you probably have an infected wound…hmm… I need to find it.” As she helps Lexa take off her shirt leaving her in only her bindings and pants.

Clarke looks back at the woman seated by her, a thin layer of sweat glistening over her body and slightly paler than she should be. As she looks further on down to the woman’s abdomen and the muscles that seem to be chiseled onto her body she hears a cough behind her bringing her focus to the woman’s eyes in front of her.

Lexa looks around Clarke to find the smirk that Anya throws at her from her cough.

Refocusing her attention Clarke moves onto the dried blood surrounding red marks along Lexa’s shoulder. Looking at the skin around the puncture marks it seems to not be infected only making Clarke think out loud “That doesn’t make any sense…”

Seeing the marks continue a bit further on Lexa’s back she walks around the table to only let out a gasp.

As soon as she makes the sound Anya stands up at attention to make her way over and see what the commotion is about.

Clarke looks back at Rhys before saying “We should have seen her first…”

Anya makes it around the table as Clarke runs around the room to gather more supplies. When she finally sets eyes on Lexa’s back, she lets her mouth drop open.

On her back is a long deep gash down the right side with the skin around it puffy and red despite all of the dried blood surrounding it.

 _Lexa, why did you not mention something at the camp?_ Anya asks hushed by Lexa’s side.

 _I am fine Anya, need I remind you who I am?_ Lexa responds as she tries to not cause concern with her tone.

 _Don’t be a fool! I know exactly who you are, but do not forget I am here to protect your ass._ Anya spits out angrily back at Lexa as she scowls at her.

Clarke makes her way back to the warrior as she starts to wipe away the dried blood to get a better look at the wound.

Anya starts to pace around the room as she continues to mumble to herself in the same language as earlier with her arms folded across her chest she looks at her footsteps.

Once the wound is wiped away of the debris and dried blood Clarke starts to prepare her tools for the next phase. Before starting she gently touches the woman’s shoulder to grab her attention as she extends her neck to the left to look at her when she says “I am going to clean your wound…I will have to expose new healthy tissue so this will sting as well as the alcohol…just want you to prepare yourself...”

Clarke waits as the woman turns her face to look at her to which she gives her a nod.

Clarke gets started on debriding the wound with Rhys following her debrided sections with alcohol to disinfect the newly exposed wound.

The muscles on the woman’s back flex every now and then catching Clarke’s eyes but as she looks at the rest of the woman’s profile you would not be able to tell she feels any discomfort.

“If you need a break just say the word…”

Lexa remains focused as she maintains her stoic features.

A guard enters shortly after requesting the healer for someone in the village.

Clarke is lost in her head as she looks onto the massive back tattoo on the woman that follows down a majority of her spine. It is not until she hears Rhys call her name that she looks up.

“Huh?”

“Will you be okay here by yourself?”

“Uh yes, I am good here. I will come find you after I am done.” Clarke finishes with a smile to Rhys that is returned as he steps outside.

After several minutes of her cleaning the wound she starts to press around the wound to which she feels two pockets on the side of the wound. Figuring it is just a pocket of puss she goes to puncture it to release the contents to only hit something hard.

Clarke moves her head back to double-check her anatomy and there is no bone structure in that area she should be hitting.

Taking out a tool to manipulate the area she is able to pull out something that resembles a claw.

“What in the world…what happened to you out there?”

The two injured woman look at her to only seem unnerved by what she found.

“Wolves…Bears…Nothing out of the ordinary” The first woman says seemingly bored.

“According to who’s definition of ordinary?..This is…wow…” Clarke finished as she starts looking for anymore hidden objects.

Both woman start to chuckle slightly at her words to which Anya continues “The healer with a sense of humor…You should meet our healer…”

Clarke manages to find another claw and tooth embedded in Lexa’s shoulder as she makes her way to the first woman to double check her wounds.

Finding another 2 foreign objects in she responds “There is always a time for firsts…this is just the last one I expected to find.”

Anya looks back at the healer at she fails to see a smile or any indication of her joking.

“That seems hard to…believe.”

“Let’s just say I am not exactly from around here…” Clarke says as she double checks her deep thigh wound. Clarke bites her tongue as she realizes the hole she is starting to dig herself into with her responses.

Anya quips back “What do yo-, GAH” to which Clarke holds up another deeply hidden claw.

“Got it.” Clarke smiles as she holds it up.

Anya hisses as she squeezes her thigh far from the wound.

“That didn’t hurt did it?..”

Hearing a stifled laugh, Clarke shoots her head to the sound to only catch a curl of a smile briefly until it is back to Lexa’s stoic features.

Clarke looks the woman up and down trying to figure out why she keeps herself so reserved.

Hearing the mutterings of Anya, Clarke pays back attention to her as she starts to stitch her up.

“Is the wound cleared?”

“Yes, I am abo-“

“Where is your fire?”

“What?..” Remembering what the healer did before to close wounds with the young girl she realized the confusion “No no, I am going to stitch your wound closed. The cut is deep and needs proper closure, plus it will not scar as bad.”

Anya looks at Clarke as she starts to prepare the thread, unsure whether it is of concern or curiosity.

As Clarke starts, the woman becomes fussy and childish as she questions her methods to close the wound as well as bringing back up the previous interrupted conversation. Clarke decides she has had enough as she pauses her stitches to concoct a pain reliever and something to help against infection into a tea.

Clarke presses the tea into Anya’s hands which she smells as she looks up with a silent question.

“It is for any infection and discomfort.”

Anya downs the drink as resumes her previous tactics of flexing against the stitches complaining they will keep nothing closed. After a long minute she starts to lean back and eventually collapses back onto the table.

The thud has the other woman stand up at alert with a blade in her hand as she readies for an attack.

Clarke freezes, throwing her hands up “She is just asleep…I am not going to hurt you…”

As Clarke is about to say more, a loud snoring comes from the unconscious woman.

“See?..I figured some sleep would do her some good…and my patience.”

Lexa relaxes her stance feeling the pull from her back less as she does.

“Your patience and mine...”

Clarke laughs to which she finally receives a smile back from Lexa.

Clarke goes back to finishing the stitches on the first woman, as she heads back to Lexa.

The snoring still continuing, Lexa speaks up “Even in sleep she has something to say…”

Clarke catches her eyes as she responds, “What is her name?”

“Anya”

“Anya…Well I do not know how you do it”

“At first I did not have a choice” seeing Clarke frown in questioning she continued “I was very young when she was chosen to train me to be a warrior.”

“Between the two of you I would have guessed her for the child haha.”

“She can be…difficult at times.”

Lexa watches on, as the woman in front is gentle and attentive to her wounds. She watches as she manipulates the thread with her fingers and the tool to close her wounds. She looks up to watch her as she works, catching herself start to wonder about her life.

“You are very skilled…how long have you been a healer?” Lexa questions as she continues watching Clarke’s work on her shoulder.

“My mother is a healer…I would help her when I was younger and it just stuck with me…however I try to not let it …confine or limit me…”

“Confine you?”

“I like to believe there is more to a person than what they are good at, or their position…” Clarke pauses her stitching to drop her hands and look up as she tries to put together the jumble of thoughts in her head. “People tend to see others as what they do and not who they are…It can be very subjective…I root for objectivity…does that make any sense?..Sounds a bit silly out loud haha…”

Lexa looks on as Clarke looks her in the eyes for her reaction. Taking her time to respond, she finally lets out “In a perfect world yes, but sometimes…one has to make those sacrifices for the greater good of the people.”

Clarke angles her head as she tries to understand what she could mean. “I refuse to believe that…everyone deserves more than that…”

Lexa continues the staring eye contest they seem to be engaged in the past few minutes, “Is that a challenge, Clarke?” Lexa questions with a slight smirk directed towards the blonde.

Leaning close to the injured warrior, Clarke taunts, “As the one sealing your injuries, I think I will take my chances…”

Lexa feels herself relax as she lets out a light laugh which the blonde joins as she resumes the stitching.

Just as Lexa is about to continue their conversation the door to the healer’s home is opened as the princess enters.

They both look up their laughter fading out as the princess takes a few steps forward before requesting “Clarke…May I have some privacy to speak to our guests…”

“Of course…I will be outside when you are done so I can finish up here.”

As Clarke starts to head out, she places her hand on the Princess’s arm as she passes to which she receives a nod. Finally making her way out the door she goes on to inform Zander to find her when the Princess is done as she goes to look for Rhys.

Lexa watched as Clarke left the room, catching her arm on the Princess’s arm. She had only met the Princess briefly, but she is interested in the relationship between the two women.

“Princess Maia…” Lexa starts as the woman starts to step forward leisurely taking in the healer’s home.

“Heda…” That is when Maia catches sight of the sound enveloping the room softly and see’s the unconscious woman on one of the examination tables. “What happened to her?..” Maia questions as she points with her finger toward to fallen warrior.

“She can be a difficult patient…Sleep should treat her well…”

“Hmm…” Maia responds as she folds her arms and looks from the floor back at the commander. “I see you have met Clarke…”

“Yes, your healer is very talented…her methods are…” As Lexa looks back at the thread left on the table still running down from her unfinished shoulder “…different...interesting really.”

“Tell me about the foreign visitor…Is she still being held?” Lexa asks as she positions herself into a more comfortable yet commanding position.

Maia starts to chew on the inside of her mouth as concealed from preying eyes as she lets out “You just met her.”

The commander looks briefly to the side until she reconnects with the Princess’s eyes as hers widens as she realizes what she is just being told.

Lexa replays the conversation earlier that Clarke and Anya were having… “ _There is always a time for firsts”_ …” _Let’s just say I am not exactly from around here”_ …

Unsure how close the woman in question is outside of the door, the commander tries to keep her tone down as she angrily spits out “Were these your actions or the Kings?”

Maia unfolds her arms as she tries to stand taller “Mine”

The commander does not expect that answer to which she quirks a brow. “What of the King?”

“The King has passed away yesterday…He has been ill for quite some time, bed ridden he left me to deal with the conflict. However he was aware of my decisions.”

Answering the commander’s unasked questions about receiving the matter form the Princess instead of the King is finally answered. “Your father was a great leader of your people…may he be at peace…”

Taking a moment to let her respects be paid to the King, the commander continues, “I still need an explanation for your actions…you disobeyed my direct order…that will not be left unanswered.”

Maia nods as she regains back the push in her voice trying to keep her emotions in check in front of her heda, “We should continue this discussion in the privacy of the palace…once you are finished being tended to.”

The commander, already furious, only nods as she dismisses the Princess to leave the healers home.

As the Princess makes her way outside in search for Clarke, the commander tries to navigate her thoughts. The girl who fell from the sky is Clarke…the woman who is about to come back in through that door to finish tending to her wounds.

As foolish as the Princess’s decision was to disobey her order, Anya’s change of plans lets the Princess’s play work to her benefit. However Lexa wishes she were given a warning before discussing as casually as she was to the blonde.

Hearing footsteps outside of the healer’s home, the commander tries to control her emotions until she can further discuss with the Princess.

Clarke enters back to the healer’s home to find Lexa where she left her.

However something has changed. Given the woman’s injuries, she seems to be very rigid and tight with her back straightened unlike before. Wondering whether she was in discomfort from her wounds she went to go check.

Not seeing the stitches being pulled she asks “You seem uncomfortable…is something pulling on your wounds?..”

Lexa tries to relax her body but it seems it refuses to let the commander’s guard be let down now realizing who the woman truly is in the room. “No” Lexa manages to spit out through her teeth.

Clarke takes a step back at the tone coming from the previously laughing woman. “You sur-?”

“Are you finished yet?” Lexa letting her impatience take over.

Clarke looks at the back of the woman’s head in disbelief it is coming from the same woman.

Clarke opens her mouth to respond but finding nothing to say. Clarke continues to finish stitching Lexa’s shoulder in silence.

After the stitches were finished she starts to gather bandages to prepare as Rhys walks back in.

“Clarke, do you need any assistance?” Rhys questions sensing the silence in the room.

Clarke takes a moment to think over his question as she responds, “Actually, would you mind bandaging her? I want to go check on something…I will see you later after lunch” she says to the healer.

Rhys changes positions with her as Clarke makes her way out of the healer’s home finally leaving the room.

Clarke presses her hand to her head as she tries to remove the tension from her body after the reactions from the woman she was treating. Clarke decides she needs a distraction and heads to the palace to grab her sketching supplies.

It is later in the day when the commander and the Princess meet in the palace for their formal meeting.

The commander enters to find the Princess already waiting in her meeting room as she clears some of the parchments and maps she had lying on the table.

As the guards close the doors the Princess finally properly greets her visitor. “Heda...I assume you wish to jump right where we left off?..”

The commander just looks at the Princess with her arms behind her back squeezing her hands clutched together.

“Explain.”

The princess nods as she settles for the stare down the commander is giving her as she tries to keep her knees from shaking.

“From the moment she fell from the sky to the time she woke up, she did not give an ounce of a threat…She was defenseless, injured, and scared…I cannot tell you the last time I had encountered someone with that nature…Even the warrior children have more knowledge of a threatening nature than she does…She is not from here. As soon as I brought her to the healer’s unconscious, I sent out a letter to you. Before I knew anything…before everything she has done since she has been awake. Can you honestly tell me there is a teaching from the book of previous commanders telling you what to do in a situation with someone falling from the sky? Me either. The last one to fall was the first commander herself, and she rescued our people to make us what we are today. Since she has landed not only has she healed and saved lives of villagers using her knowledge from her home but she has also saved the King’s life from leaving a few days early…”

The princess takes a breath to gather herself together in hopes that the commander is still listening.

“You wanted to question her… She is now in an environment for you to get to know and question her better than she would by your blade or another’s. Given your change of plans this only gives you that much more of an advantage. She has gained my trust…Let her gain yours…and then let you form your own opinion…If you feel she is a threat after your time here then I hope she gives you a reason for that decision besides the fact that she exists. I mean no disrespect Heda…but it seems we already agree.”

The commander keeps her stoic mask as she stares down the Princess in front of her. Her arms have moved from her back to her chest folded in front of her as she takes a step forward.

“Agree?..On what terms? Lexa spits out.

At this the Princess tries to hide her smile as she also takes a step forward. “You entered requesting to not have your true identity announced…I assume you wish to question Clarke as a person and not Heda…After she woke up in the healers, she did not know I was the Princess…I also got to know her as a person and not my position because I find there to be more truth come out that way…So do you…”

At this the Commander seems to soften her gaze a bit as she tips her head to the side slightly as she takes in what the Princess just said.

“You seem confident you know everything…” Lexa spits back out to see how the Princess reacts. This is the future Queen of the Lake People and the commander is wondering whom exactly will she have to suffer through meetings in Polis with.

“No…This…situation was the first of this magnitude I have had to step up for…As much as I did my duty with informing you, I had a duty to keep my people safe…I only thought what would you and my Father do when I made my decision and did not look back.”

At this the commander scoffs at this as her arms fall by her sides.

“If you are trying to flatter me Princess…”

“I am not…I respect you as a leader Heda… But if there is anything I learned from the stories about you, you always trust your gut and beliefs in peace for your people. I only am following mine to do the same.”

The Princess continues “Just give her a chance…I think she will surprise you…Oh and Heda?...”

The commander quirked a brow at her question.

The Princess smiles saying “Welcome to Lumbus Heda."

The commander looks at the Princess trying to take in the new clan leader she is to deal with. She settles into a nearby chair at the head of the long table as the Princess watches on for her reaction. "Seeing as I am already here...I think it is time to discuss what to expect at future clans meetings in Polis...Queen Maia of the Lake People."

She takes a silent quick breath in, hoping to not have the other woman notice. The Princess was not prepared to hear her title prior to being officially crowned. It is another moment of her current new reality.

"Of course Heda."

Taking steps toward the table, she settles in for what she expects to be a long lesson, but ever is she ready to lead and learn for her people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh eh ehhh?...did you like it? You should let me know. Please feel free to comment I work best with feedback, I could still use help on tag suggestions for this fic because I am just ugh awful. Really hope you enjoyed it this is my first time writing a fic...
> 
> P.S Do I have any rose and luisa fans from Jane the Virgin?...just wondering be I might start writing some one shots but idk... :)


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